|| -----Original Message-----
|| From: owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
|| [mailto:owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com]On Behalf Of Alec Ramsdell
||
|| Justin Schwartz wrote:
||
|| > But [if?] we
|| > don't hold it to that standard, we have no basis for
|| > criticizing its
|| > actions.
||
|| Doesn't the collapsing distinction--on the level of
|| empire--and collapsed distinction--in the case of the
|| war against terrorism, homeland security, etc.--
|| between police and military action render a due
|| process model ineffective for current questions of
|| "justice"? The whole debate between war and due
|| process seems beside the point, or rather not nearly
|| flexible enough.
||
|| Alec
Exactly.
I confess that during the Clinton years I had begun to secretly hope that the American empire could be a constitutional one, that it would respect the law. In this corner of the world, I wasn't the only one entertaining such illusions. Even a few salvos of Monica missiles could be forgiven after what the world endured from Reagan and Bush. But now, America has carpet-bombed legality to pieces. The brazen US violations of international law have simply destroyed it, except as a forced pretense in the EU, which tries to resist the American fait accompli despite the accomplices in its own ranks.
International law requires enforcement by powerful states, as the judiciary has no constabulary at its command, whereas most offenders have their own armies. If the most powerful state in the world - the top cop - is a recidivist offender who is in contempt of the judiciary, this signifies the breakdown of international law. For due process to prevail, it must apply to all. You can't leave the worst bandit free to wreak havoc and pass judgement on the small fry it preys upon and call that rule of law.
As George Monbiot wrote, it's not Afghanistan that has been bombed into the stone age, but the West. The US war machine has become a time machine that is taking us back to the '50's: Reagan's dream is coming true. The new concepts of international justice that were introduced after the Ruandan genocide and Serb ethnic cleansing have now become fond memories. Maybe even the UN will be undermined, despite Kofi Annan's efforts, and be reduced once again to a great power puppet show, except there's no Kruschev to thump shoes on tables and put up a fight.
So if the rule of law has been shattered and the world has been transformed into an image of Afghanistan, where warlords and bandits once again roam free, there's not much sense in talking about legal principles. The crime is so gross and so openly committed that it needs no discussing.
Hakki Alacakaptan