From: John K Clark (jonkc@att.net)
Date: Mon Mar 24 2003 - 11:08:00 MST
"Brett Paatsch" <paatschb@ocean.com.au>
>When I see "international law" I see it something like this
>"inter" - "national" "law"
>Which part of this strikes you as the silly bit?
The "law" bit.
>You may recall that the first Gulf War, to expell an illegal and
>aggressive invasion of Kuwait was in fact carried out under
>a UN resolution.
And you may recall that between April and July of 1994 more than 800,000
people were murdered in the genocide in Rwanda, the UN refused to do
anything about it, the USA did nothing either and if they had put a stop to
it they would have been labeled a criminal, at least according to some. A
few years later ethnic cleansing started in Kosovo and again the UN refused
to do a thing about it but this time the USA decided to become a "criminal"
and stop it on their own. More recent mass murders with deaths in the 5 and
6 figure range can be found in East Timor, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Angola and
more; the UN and International Suggestions did absolutely nothing to stop
any of them. Many are found of saying might doesn't make right but they
forget the UN doesn't make right either.
>There is enforcement. It arises out of the consequences of
>having a bad reputation.
I will not bet my life that fear of a bad reputation will protect me from a
murder like Ted Bundy; I want policemen armed with guns. I have even less
confidence that it will protect me from Osama Bin laden or Saddam Hussein
because in certain circles their reputation would improve not decline by
killing a person like me.
>the world war 11 leaders Roosevelt and Churchill saw some
>merit in establishing the UN Charter.
And they spent about a thousand times as much time effort and money making
one hell of a lot of weapons.
>It is not just the words that one puts on (paper) that makes
>international law (or any other law). It is the strenght and courage
>and conviction of those who think that promises should be kept
>so that there is the possibility, the precious possibility of peace.
Those who value strength, courage, honesty and peace are wonderful people
but they are not the ones I worry about, they are not the people who want to
kill me.
John K Clark jonkc@att.net
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