A perfect example of why the International Criminal Court represents an injustice and should be repudiated. The headline is, “Blair faces war crimes trial after Iraq war”:
A group of lawyers aims to prosecute Prime Minister Tony Blair for war crimes at the new International Criminal Court (ICC) if an Iraqi war goes ahead….
“There is a 100 percent certainty that Blair will be investigated by the ICC for war crimes if he attacks Iraq,” said Phil Shiner of the Public Interest Lawyers firm in Birmingham….
“The ICC brings a new international context to war — Blair now has to consider his individual accountability….”
The United States fiercely opposes the ICC, saying it would infringe U.S. sovereignty, but Britain has ratified its treaty and would have to give up any citizen the court wanted to try.
Nicholas Grief of Bournemouth University, who specialises in international law, said November’s U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441 on Iraq did not authorise the use of force.
He said the resolution used the term “serious consequences” if Iraq did not comply with weapons inspectors, and not “use all necessary means”, which has previously been used as a diplomatic code for authorising military force…. [Reuters, 2/5/03]