What to do about the abuse? Bush says it was “terrible” and “here will be a full investigation.” But who should carry out the investigation and who should punish the guilty? If America carries out American justice then those who already see America as the aggressors and the “evil empire” will accuse America of show trials, victors justice, etc, etc, etc. The Iraqis won’t be happy, the rest of the world will not be happy. So what to do? Can’t really hold the Americans to Iraqi justice—they don’t have a valid system yet, and you can’t use the old system. I do have a suggestion—why else would I be writing this entry? The ICC [ icc-cpi.int ]. The International Criminal Court. I don’t know exactly what falls under their jurisdiction but I don’t see any other judicial body that could carry out an investigation, trials and hand down sentences to the guilty. And while some people will never be satisfied but not only would a great many people outside the Middle East be happier if the investigation was done by the ICC but it would give legitimacy to the ICC and heal some of the wounds opened when the US refused to put it’s soldiers under the jurisdiction of the ICC when it was founded. Anyway, it’s for people who are smarter than me to figure out.
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