PrintNovember 17, 2009
A Double-Blow to the Laws of War
The rule of law can be a fragile conceptual edifice. It underpins civilization itself by assuming a basic, shared human interest in honesty, fairness, propriety, and peaceable relations between parties. Warfare has always existed on the edges of this compact, by its very nature endorsing deliberate destruction and killing. Lawful societies generally fear and even abhor war, though it may occasionally be necessary, stimulating, and satisfyingly sanguinary. Nations over the millennia have sought with varying degrees of success to apply the rule of law to warfare. This, on balance, has been a good thing. Unfortunately, that finely wrought effort is steadily unraveling in -- of all places -- Manhattan. The United Nations Human Rights Council's adoption of the Goldstone Commission's report of Israel's Gaza campaign and the Obama administration's decision to try 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed in New York both serve to empower terrorists, rogue nations, and all...(Read Full Article)
