Attorney General John Ashcroft, the fundamentalist who had a statue of Justice covered because of a naked breast, may not have realized that Justice is not really blind. His day may come soon. Afghanistan is on the verge of ratifying the ICC treaty. Which could be interesting, since it means there may a case on behalf of Afghan nationals at present in Guantanamo, where Ashcroft has ruled that they have no legal rights under international or domestic law.
In the Nuremberg Trials, German General Alfred Jodl was charged with violation of the Geneva Conventions for shackling Canadian prisoners of war taken in the Dieppe Raid — and refusing to treat captured British commandos as POWs. From the dock he explained, "the Fuhrer had received very bad reports. We had captured all the orders of the Canadian brigade, which had landed at Dieppe.
These orders said that, wherever possible, German prisoners were to have their hands shackled. Some time later, a commando troop made an attack on the island of Sark. Again we received official reports that German prisoners had been shackled." Note that this was on the beachhead in the heat of battle, not 12,000 miles in the heat of a tropical prison camp.
In retaliation, Hitler ordered that the thousands of Canadian prisoners taken at Dieppe were to be shackled, and issued his Commando Order: that commandos were not to be treated as prisoners of war, but were to be summarily shot, unless some were kept for interrogation — after which they were to be shot. Ironically Jodl testified that he, the German High Command and Foreign Ministry both disagreed with Hitler's orders — and by extension with the Bush administration.
In the Nuremberg Trials, German General Alfred Jodl was charged with violation of the Geneva Conventions for shackling Canadian prisoners of war taken in the Dieppe Raid — and refusing to treat captured British commandos as POWs. From the dock he explained, "the Fuhrer had received very bad reports. We had captured all the orders of the Canadian brigade, which had landed at Dieppe.
These orders said that, wherever possible, German prisoners were to have their hands shackled. Some time later, a commando troop made an attack on the island of Sark. Again we received official reports that German prisoners had been shackled." Note that this was on the beachhead in the heat of battle, not 12,000 miles in the heat of a tropical prison camp.
In retaliation, Hitler ordered that the thousands of Canadian prisoners taken at Dieppe were to be shackled, and issued his Commando Order: that commandos were not to be treated as prisoners of war, but were to be summarily shot, unless some were kept for interrogation — after which they were to be shot. Ironically Jodl testified that he, the German High Command and Foreign Ministry both disagreed with Hitler's orders — and by extension with the Bush administration.