War crime charges; can't say you weren't warned, Tony!

[LynnTheDem]

October 19, 2005;
British Law lord damns "illegal Iraq war'

One of Britain’s most senior judges last night accused ministers of producing “half-baked” criminal justice reforms and then blaming judges for the failings of the system. Lord Steyn, a law lord, also launched a scathing attack on ministers over the Iraq war, accusing them of “scraping the bottom of the legal barrel” to justify their case.

He said it was a “fairytale” to suggest that the Iraq war did not make London a “more dangerous place”.

Lord Steyn echoed the views of Lord Alexander of Weedon, QC, his predecessor at Justice, with a robust attack on the legality of the Iraq war. Lord Alexander’s view that the war was illegal “reflected the overwhelming view of international lawyers and was undoubtedly correct”.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1832270,00.html

British military chief reveals new legal fears over Iraq war

The man who led Britain's armed forces into Iraq has said that Tony Blair and the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, will join British soldiers in the dock if the military are ever prosecuted for war crimes in Iraq.

In a remarkably frank interview that goes to the heart of the political row over the Attorney General's legal advice, Admiral Sir Michael Boyce, the former Chief of the Defence Staff, said he did not have full legal cover from prosecution at the International Criminal Court.

'If my soldiers went to jail and I did, some other people would go with me,' said Boyce.

Pressed by The Observer on whether he meant the Prime Minister and the Attorney General, Boyce replied: 'Too bloody right.'
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,6903,1474276,00.html

Mr. Lord Goldsmith admitting regime change would be ILLEGAL;
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=457242005

"The attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, warned less than two weeks before the invasion of Iraq that military action could be ruled illegal. The government was so concerned that it might be prosecuted it set up a team of lawyers to prepare for legal action in an international court."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2005/feb/23/uk.iraq3


A few others warned you, too, Tony. But you weren't listening;

War on Iraq was illegal, say world's top lawyers

-Professor Philippe Sands QC Director of the Centre on International Courts and Tribunals, University College London

-Professor Robert Black QC Professor of Scots law, Edinburgh University, and architect of the Lockerbie trial in The Hague

-Professor Sean Murphy Associate professor of law at George Washington University, Washington DC

-Professor Vaughan Lowe Chichele Professor of Public International Law, All Souls College, Oxford

-Professor James Crawford Whewell Professor of International Law, Jesus College, Cambridge

-Professor Mary Kaldor Professor of global governance, London School of Economics
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/attack/law/2003/0525warillegal.htm


Canadian law professors declare US-led war illegal

The US-led coalition’s war against Iraq is illegal, declared 31 Canadian professors of international law at 15 law faculties.

A US attack “would be a fundamental breach of international law and would seriously threaten the integrity of the international legal order that has been in place since the end of the Second World War,”
http://www.casi.org.uk/discuss/2003/msg01357.html

Australian legal experts declare an invasion of Iraq a war crime

Forty-three Australian experts in international law and human rights legislation have issued a declaration that an invasion of Iraq will be an open breach of international law and a crime against humanity...

...the indictment of the German Nazi leaders at the 1945-1949 Nuremberg War Crimes Trials was precisely for carrying out preemptive military strikes against neighbouring countries. They were tried and convicted of “planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression, or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances”.
http://law.anu.edu.au/cipl/Media/Waging%20war%20crimes%20Feb03.pdf


Iraq War Illegal, Lawyers Say

Most experts in international law say they are not convinced either by the argument that military action against Iraq is authorized by earlier U.N. resolutions nor that the U.N. Charter allows self-defense against a perceived future threat.
http://middleeastinfo.org/article2270.html

Even your partner in crime, Tony...

Jack Straw admits case for war in Iraq is weak
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9126.htm

No Tony, you can't say you weren't warned...so I bet this didn't come as a shock;

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3334737

You and your war criminal pal John Howard; decieing your own people, sending your own people to kill & be killed in a "supreme crime" war of aggression, making your nations & your people very much less safe. Was lockstepping with the bush regime truly worth all that plus your souls?

[magellan]

1. Just you wait, Tony bLiar, just you wait!

(Sorry, watched My Fair Lady again today.)

It will be very interesting to see if the ICC pursues the British war criminals. Tony and his crew deserve to be prosecuted.

Of course this is the reason Bush** refused to renew US membership with the ICC. That move alone made it patently obvious that he and the rest of his cabal INTENDED to go to the dark side.

[Ghost in the Machine]

2. Run, war pigs, runnnn!!

Run all you want, but you can't hide....

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. And BushCo will join them in the docket

with the senior military officers from the US....

In time... justice is slow, but it will come

And I want a first row seat to THAT trial

[dana_b]

5. I hope/pray you're right

but these damn people seem immune or above it all. I don't know what it would take to actually convict them. It's like people are afraid of them. Either that, or a lot of the U.S. just doesn't care that much.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. If you asked any German if their leaders would be on the docket

they would have looked at you like you were nuts

If you ask this question for ANY event since ;45 you get that are you nuts?

The US is no longer a superpower... and the world can force this on us...

As they say, there are many ways to skin a damn cat! And the cat doesn't like any of them!

[seemslikeadream]

9. Philippe Sands said the same thing

the world can force this on us... AND WILL

[bdamomma]

15. oh they will, the rest of the world is not going to sit back and see

these thugs get away with it, only we will let them get away with it. Sorry to say.

[Prophet 451]

11. The wheels of justice may be slow...

...but they grind exceedingly small.

I have no doubt that Blair will eventually face trial for the various crimes involved in the Iraq war. Given the US's current contempt for international cooperation, I have less faith that Bush will see the same justice.

[AndyTiedye]

4. The Place War Criminals Have Nightmares About

[Swamp Rat]

6. Didn't Bush find a weapon of mass destruction?

Or, was it was a nipple of mass distraction? :D

[Quantess]

8. Veddy good.

K & R

[LeftishBrit]

10. But he never needed any damn lawyers or judges to tell him what's right or legal

He gets it all on his personal hotline to God!

[Echo In Light]

12. K&R for wishful thinking

[malaise]

13. My only wish is that Robin Cook was alive

to testify at Blair's trial.

[LeftishBrit]

14. Me too!

Or better still - that the government had listened to him in the first place.

[Hissyspit]

23. Thanks for this, Lynn.

Would have missed it otherwise.

[Senator]

16. Impeachment Must Be Step One

Without it, our entire (once-great) nation becomes liable for that which they've not (yet) given their proper consent.

The torture and war crimes are FAR more important than any election.

Impeachment is the ONLY way to reassert the stolen sovereignty of the (former) American People, reestablish national and international rule of law, and reunite our once-great nation.

If you are doing anything other than working to demand it, you are part of the firewall against it.

(And bush/cheney/rove are grateful to you.)

--

[alfredo]

17. Pull bush down with you.

[countryjake]

18. kick!

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

19. This is fantastic and made the Times of London BUT will it ever reach the NY Times?

:banghead:

[bean fidhleir]

20. So where the hell were they in Feb '03???

This tubthumping and drum-banging should have been done then. Nonstop until it smothered BushBlairCo's crime against peace.

[Stinky The Clown]

21. Meanwhile, in The Land Down Under, old bushbuddy Howard is being chastised, too.

Recent changes in government have not bode well for the warmonger set.

[bean fidhleir]

22. Sure. But it's a pump. Notice that none of the profiteers ever has to give back what they took.

It's a one-way valve - they take, we get indignant, they stop taking, we declare victory, they start taking again. It's a pump.

[MadMaddie]

24. Oh how dost the Hague sound to thee?

I am just guessing the Hague is quietly gathering countries to pursue prosecution of war crimes....there is ample evidence that the reason for going to war was a lie and many have lost their lives for the lie.


Tony, *, Cheny, Condi, Bremmer, Rumsfeld and the list goes on...yep they are all culpable for the deaths......and destruction...

[OwnedByFerrets]

25. I thought you meant Tony SnowJob, but that Tony works too....

:rofl:

[countryjake]

26. Kick for Justice!