Given how interesting the discussion about Roger's post about Ann Althouse and Judge Taylor's decision in the NSA case have been, I think it's worth opening up the discussion to readers who don't necessarily read beyond the comments. The basic question is this: When is a judicial decision an abuse of power? At a minimum, I think, a judicial decision...
For those that are interested, my short essay on whether Saddam is likely to be executed before a verdict is reached in the current Anfal trial is now available at The Grotian Moment. ...
In what is being billed as the first agreement of its kind, the LRA has pledged to protect rare wildlife in a remote park it occupies in eastern Congo, including rare pygmy giraffe and what are thought to be the last four northern white rhinos in the wild: In an apparent bid to burnish their brutal reputation, the Lord's Resistance Army...
This is a landmark month in the history of international law: with the accession of the Republic of Montenegro on August 2, the 1949 Geneva Conventions have become the first international treaty in modern history to achieve universal acceptance. Montenegro also acceded to the two 1977 Additional Protocols, bringing the number of States party to Additional Protocol I to...
According to an unnamed U.S. official, the Iraqi High Tribunal may try Saddam Hussein posthumously if he is executed before a verdict is reached in the Anfal case, which is about to begin: The Anfal trial is to begin on Monday, but a verdict in the other case is expected on October 16, when Iraqi judges will rule on whether...
I know that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of former Nazis still roaming the earth -- but I never thought that their ranks would include a Nobel laureate and anti-war icon. So this certainly came as a suprise: Gunter Grass, Germany's greatest living author and doyen of the left, has confessed that he was a teenage member of...
Each year, pursuant to the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, the Department of State submits to Congress a report on countries' efforts to eliminate human trafficking. The report divides countries into three tiers, with Tier 1 including countries that have made significant efforts to comply with U.S. law's minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking in persons, and Tier 3 including...
This report from the Bahrain News Agency doesn't bode well -- especially the highlighted clause:Tehran, Aug. 13, (BNA) Iranian Oil Minister, Khadim Waziri and his Iraqi counterpart, Hossein Shahrastani, signed here on Sunday a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the oil field. Iran News Agency (IRNA) said the Mou stipulated that Iran should supply Iraq with kerosene and liquefied...
Courtesy of Arms & Influence, here is the actual Powerpoint slide created by Joint Task Force IV to depict the political outcome that was supposed to result from the invasion of Iraq: Apparently, Powerpoint presentations were the norm during the Defense Department's "planning" for the Iraq war. From Thomas Ricks' new book, Fiasco:[Army Lt. General David] McKiernan had another, smaller...
Some interesting developments at the international tribunals over the past few weeks: Most notably, Saddam Hussein has asked the ICC to investigate his alleged mistreatment by the U.S. while incarcerated during trial. Whatever the substantive merits of the allegations, the ICC has no jursidiction to investigation them, because neither Iraq nor the U.S. has ratified the Rome Statute. The...
Saturday was the 60th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. Tens of thousands of Japanese thronged Peace Park in downtown Hiroshima to commemorate the attack, which killed nearly 140,000 people. From all accounts, the ceremony was deeply moving, a tribute to the need to abolish nuclear weapons once and for all: During the ceremony, children dressed in black...
An Argentine court has sentenced a former policeman to 25 years imprisonment for "disappearing" a couple and abducting their child in 1978, during Argentina's "Dirty War": A federal court in Buenos Aires sentenced Julio Héctor Simón to 25 years in prison for the illegal arrest and torture of José Poblete Roa and Gertrudis Hlaczik de Poblete, a Chilean/Argentine couple who “disappeared”...
