Crime not War (Re: Arguments for ground war - forget it)

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

>>If only.   But due process presumes a stable,
>>overarching, in this case supranational (in terms of
>>empire--the UN) juridical set of interpretations and
>>practices/interventions.  Since this war, by these
>>standards, is illegal, or legal in a way that clearly
>>massages any kind of rigor of interpretation since the
>>US has bypassed the UN, where's the credibility in due
>>process?  This is in no way an endorsement of war, nor
>>is this the first "war" to argue for the difference:
>>it's just the coordinates have changed.  Due process
>>is a souvenir in this conflict.
>>
>>Alec
>
>I don't understand your point. Mine was pretty simple: a crime calls 
>for a criminal investigation, not a war. Due process tends to be a 
>casualty of war. Maybe that is your point too. In that case we don't 
>disgree.
>
>Btw, wrt what Doug's interlocutor said about the legality of the war 
>in view of the UN's actions, I haven't got a strong opinion. I have 
>no expertise in international law. My friend John Quigley of my old 
>law school, Ohio State, is a real expert in international law, and 
>he thinks it's illegal. I'd tend to defer to him. But even if he's 
>wrong, I think that war was the wrong response.
>
>jks

Naturally, arguments on the legality of the war don't sway the power 
elite of the USA at all, but they have a significant impact upon 
people's consciousness, so they are worth making (one of the most 
popular anti-war events we've held in Columbus was John Quigley's 
teach-in on the legal and political contexts of the Afghanistan War 
-- a large number of people are really hungry for knowledge).  To 
question the legality of the war is one way of questioning the 
legitimacy of the empire, as international law in part depends on the 
idea of equality of nations that imperialism negates, even though our 
argument is _not_ that the war would be a good idea if only it were 
legal.  As Justin mentioned earlier, we shouldn't let the US 
government get away with actions that less militarily powerful 
nations cannot get away with.  That's anti-imperialism 101.
-- 
Yoshie

* Calendar of Anti-War Events in Columbus: 
<http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html>
* Anti-War Activist Resources: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/activist.html>
* Anti-War Organizing in Columbus Covered by the Media: 
<http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/media.html>