oh hoyt,
1. Curtains are hung, people are hanged.
2. If the placing of the knot of the hangman's noose is any indication the physical nature of Saddam's death was substantially more humane than that endured in the gas chamber.
I'm shocked that someone with what appears to be as torrid a passion for old school frontier law 'n order as you have wouldn't already know that. Or could it be that you haven't the slightest damn notion of what you're babbling about and are drawing your fantasies about the good ol' days from drugstore westerns?
Which entry of the 51 made so far said "I feel sorry for Saddam"? I seem to have missed that one.
I guess all the spittle from my ravings got in my eyes.
perhaps picking up Our George while he's "clearing brush" on his "ranch". I would definitely tune in for that.
So would I.
But I think Bush thinks that he is, in a Cartman-esque sort of way, Dog.
If you look at Bush as Eric Cartman, a whole lot starts to make sense.
No problem CaseyL. Somehting else that's worth noting about the ICC, it's explicitly intended to be a court of last resort. The whole structure of the statute is meant to encourage State Parties to take care of things in their own courts, only when they don't or they can't does the ICC step in to fill the gap. Uganda called them in and now that they're having peace talks with the LRA they're rethinking having done so. There was alot of internal debate at the ICC this summer as to how the Luis Mareno-Occampo, the ICC Chief Prosecutor, should respond if Uganda asked him to drop the investigation they originally asked him to intiate.
1. Article 11 Paragraph 1: "The Court has justidiction only with respect to crimes committed after entry into force of this Statute." - 7/1/2002
Milosevich and company were tried by the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia which, like the ICC operates out of the Hague, but which is an independent judical body charterd by the UN. The ICT-Rwanda, the Special Court for Sierra Leone, the East Timor thing, and the new Cambodia venture are similar in structure to the ICTY though they operate in or near the countries of their jurisdiction.
People use "The Hague" as a sort of catch all for the ICTY and the ICC where they shouldn't, it confuses the rather limited jusirdiction of the ICC and leads to the assumption that its powers are more sweeping than they actually are.
2. Articles 12, 13, 14, and 15 are pretty clear about jurisdicitonal issues. While a non-State Party to the convention can accept the jurisdiction of the court, generally speaking, unless the Security Council refers a case (as happened with Darfur) a State Party to the Statute must be involved, either through the crime having occured in their jurisdiction or through the accused being a national of that state.
Iraq had the option to refer Saddam to the ICC for trial but only for those crimes he committed after 7/1/2002, and in all frankness, given the crimes the ICC is currently looking into (Darfur, the various depravities of the Lord's Resistance Army, Charles Taylors madness in West Africa) nothing he did in that short span would have risen to the level of ICC gravity.
It would be nice if those suggesting referal to the ICC had actually read the Rome Statue and understood the limited scope of the ICC's jurisdiction. You can't simply hand someone over to the ICC like frickn' Dawg tha' Bounty Hunter.
Unless the case is refered by the Security Council (which of course the US and the UK would have blocked or if not us then France or Russia who have their own reasons for blocking a close look into Saddam's dirty laundry) it may only be brought where the person in the dock is from a state signatory to the ICC (which Iraq is not) or where the crimes have been committed on the territory of a signatory to the ICC (see above). Furthermore, jurisdiction only kicks in for crimes committed after 7/1/2002.
The ICC is not the patented miracle cure everyone thinks it is. It's got potential and there are some truly amazing folks there but progessives who whip it out like its the last card of a winning hand ususally know next to nothing about it.
Should there have been an international court? Ideally, yes, but that would have been viewed as a defacto legitimization of the invasion and no one was going to do that and letting the US and its Iraqi goverment get rid of Saddam was a neat way to avoid accountability for their own dalliances with the dictator.
Another Iowa pizza thing is the sauerkraut and Canadian bacon pizza; a Happy Joe's Special at the Happy Joe's chain. Quite good if you like sauerkraut.
Oh Holey Barking Cats! Now there's a happy memory. I loved that pizza and am convinced it was the genesis of my 'kraut addition (I even commit the heresy of having it put on Chicago Dogs).
No proper 70's Des Moines birthday party was complete without a visit to Happy Joe's. They did a great taco pizza too. Other good Iowa pizza places include Felix and Oscar's out by Merle Hay in Des Moines (awesome deep dish with the sauce on top) and Mamma Nick's Circle Pizza in Waterloo. A Mamma Nick's with hand ground in-house Italian sausage and pepperoncini is bliss on a plate.
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