Showing posts with label international law. Show all posts
Showing posts with label international law. Show all posts

Thursday, March 1, 2012

"Chinese Hackers" - - - And Keep Reading

The headline is attention-getting. Which headlines are supposed to be. So was the article's lead paragraph:
"Chinese hackers took over NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, Inspector General reveals"
FoxNews.com (March 1, 2012)

"Chinese hackers gained control over NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in November, which could have allowed them delete sensitive files, add user accounts to mission-critical systems, upload hacking tools, and more -- all at a central repository of U.S. space technology, according to a report released Wednesday afternoon by the Office of the Inspector General...."
I've posted about 'cyberwar' and how important it is to keep the wrong people from getting at anything from my credit card number, to launch codes for nuclear missiles.

Simple? Not

The headline's accurate. So is the lead paragraph.

But there's more going on than "could have allowed...." I put a slightly longer excerpt from the article at the end of this post.1

The article links to a nine-page document:
It's not particularly turgid prose. Certainly not compared with some government documents I've slogged through: If you're interested in what's going on, I suggest you read it yourself.

The report has good news, and it's got bad news.

First, the bad news: NASA, and a whole lot of other government and private outfits, could do a lot better when it comes to keeping their data secure. This is hardly 'news.'

Now, the good news: The Office of Inspector General (OIG) and other agencies around the world have started tracking down and dealing with folks who aren't nice when it comes to other people's data.

Turns out, there are a lot of folks who haven't been nice. And they don't fall into one simple category of 'bad guys.'

Conclusions, Crazy and Otherwise

There's a summary of events and actions at the end of that NASA cybersecurity report.

I might be able to take data from that report; pour in assumptions, biases, and a generous helping of paranoia: and claim that a secret cabal (that's the best kind) of Romanians, Estonians, and Texans, are plotting to take over the world by hacking into the accounting systems of Minnesota companies.

That would be - crazy talk.

I could also claim that the report proves that China's leaders are plotting to take over America's computer networks.

That would be - not so much crazy talk, as arguing ahead of facts. 'Way ahead of facts.

I'm not at all comfortable at how many hack attacks on American - and other - computer networks 'just happen' to come from servers in China. I'd like to believe that China's current leadership has gotten past the 'good old days' of Mao's cultural revolution, and want to make China a better place for the folks who live there. I'd also like to believe that everybody could just get along.

But this is the real world: and national leaders don't always have the best interests of their citizens in mind; or a sensible view of what their citizens need. And that's another topic.

Very Cautious Optimism

I insist on seeing some good news in that Cybersecurity report.

Government agencies in America and elsewhere are apparently treating crimes which are committed primarily online as - crimes.

After what look like serious investigations - not just knee-jerk accusations and assumptions - action has been taken. Correctly, if that catastrophic drop in spam was the result of two rogue Internet Service Providers getting shut down.

China's leadership may have decided to join the rest of the world, where it comes to treating online crimes as 'real' crimes. Okay - that's on the strength of just one arrest: but that's a start.

Mr. Martin's Cybersecurity Summary, Summarized

Here's what I got, after parsing out Mr. Martin's "NASA Cybersecurity..."summary:
  • February 2012
    • JPL systems hacked
    • A Romanian national was indicted in the Central District of California
      • Following convictions in Romania for related criminal activity
    • Result: losses of over $500,000 to the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) Program
  • January 2012
    • Unauthorized accesses into numerous systems belonging
      • NASA
      • The Pentagon
      • The Romanian government
      • Commercial entities
    • Romanian authorities a 20-year-old Romanian national for this intrusion
    • Result: products from a variety of NASA scientific research efforts were inaccessible to the general public for a brief period of time
      • No long-term damage to the underlying programs was reported
  • November 2011
    • JPL IT Security reported suspicious network activity involving Chinese-based IP addresses
    • NASA review disclosed that the intruders had compromised the accounts of the most privileged JPL users
      • Giving the intruders access to most of JPL's networks
    • The Office of Inspector General (OIG) continues to investigate this matter
  • November 2011
    • Following an earlier international fraud scheme
      • That compromised more than 4 million computers worldwide
        • Including 135 NASA systems
      • Over $15,000,000 in assets from the operation have been seized
        • So far
    • Indictments announced
      • By the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York
      • Six Estonians
      • One Russian national
  • February 2011
    • Hacked
      • Two NASA systems
      • A Minnesota-based company's pay and accounting system
    • A Texas man pled guilty to wire fraud in Federal court in Minnesota in connection with the crime
    • Result: more than 3,000 registered users were denied access to oceanographic data supplied by NASA for several days. Direct remediation costs in this case exceeded $66,000
  • February 2011
    • Distribution of malware that caused NASA data to be compromised
    • A British citizen was sentenced in England to 18 months' imprisonment for his role
    • Result: about 2,000 NASA e-mail users were infected with this malware as part of a worldwide computer fraud scheme
  • December 2010
    • Following the hacking of seven NASA systems
      • Many containing export-restricted technical data
    • A Chinese national was detained
      • By Chinese authorities
      • For violations of Chinese Administrative Law
    • This detention
      • Followed
        • An OIG investigation
        • Lengthy international coordination efforts
    • Significance: "This case resulted in the first confirmed detention of a Chinese national for hacking activity targeting U.S. Government agencies. Seven NASA systems, many containing export-restricted technical data, were compromised by the Chinese national."
  • March 2009
    • Following unauthorized intrusions into NASA JPL systems
      • Two computer systems used to support
        • NASA's Deep Space Network
        • Several Goddard Space Flight Center systems
    • Italian authorities
      • Raided the home of an Italian national suspected of taking part in the intrusions
      • Suspect the individual of being a member of a hacker group responsible for an Internet fraud and hacking schemes
    • Result: Good question
      • NASA officials assured us that no critical space operations were ever at risk
  • Other incidents
    • (No date given)
      • 53 NASA systems were affected by the criminal activity sponsored by McColo Inc.
        • None of the systems were mission critical
      • Twenty-one NASA systems compromised as part of criminal activity hosted by rogue ISPs
      • OIG investigations followed
        • Rogue ISPs were identified by NASA OIG and other law enforcement agencies as a major source of
          • Child pornography
          • E-mail spam
          • Stolen credit cards
          • Malicious software
        • Result:
          • Shutdown of rogue Internet Service Providers (ISPs)
            • "McColo Inc."
            • "Triple Fiber Networks,"
          • The U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California ordered McColo Inc. to pay the Federal Government a $1.08 million civil judgment
          • Worldwide reduction in spam of approximately 50 percent shortly after the ISPs were taken offline
    • 2009
      • Following theft of
        • Cisco Systems, Inc., proprietary code
        • Numerous intrusions into NASA systems
          • Including Ames Research Center's Super Computing Center
      • A Swedish citizen indicted in 2009
      • Swedish and U.S. authorities agreed to have the subject tried in Sweden
      • The subject
        • Was found guilty
        • A "formal criminal history" was filed by Swedish authorities
      • Result: several instances when the Ames Research Center's Super Computing Center was temporarily shutdown to clean up after the intrusions
        • Losses to NASA were estimated at over $5,000,000
Relate posts:
In the news:
1Excerpt from the news:
"Chinese hackers took over NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, Inspector General reveals" Foxnews.com (March 1, 2012) "Chinese hackers gained control over NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in November, which could have allowed them delete sensitive files, add user accounts to mission-critical systems, upload hacking tools, and more -- all at a central repository of U.S. space technology, according to a report released Wednesday afternoon by the Office of the Inspector General. "That report revealed scant details of an ongoing investigation into the incident against the Pasadena, Calif., lab, noting only that cyberattacks against the JPL involved Chinese-based Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. "Paul K. Martin, NASA's inspector general, put his conclusions bluntly. " 'The attackers had full functional control over these networks,' he wrote.... "...Beyond a wealth of exploration programs, such as the recent GRAIL mission to study the moon and the upcoming Mars Science Laboratory, JPL manages the Deep Space Network, a network of antenna complex. "Martin released written testimony about the attacks in the report 'NASA Cybersecurity: An Examination of the Agency;s Information Security,' presented to the House Science, Space and Technology Committee investigations panel on Wednesday. It details a host of security lapses and breaches of protocol at the space agency...."
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Friday, September 9, 2011

Libya, Interpol, and a Really Big Job

The Colonel's name gets spelled Qadhafi, Qaddafi, or Gaddafi: depending on who's deciding how to transliterate his name into the Latin alphabet.

Libya, an Arrest Warrant, and Good News/Bad News

First, the good news:
  • Someone other than Colonel Qaddafi is running Libya
    • And they aren't killing each other
    • In fact, they're talking with each other
  • According to the new Libyan leaders
    • Libya's central bank still has gold and other assets
    • Libya plans to honor existing business deals with foreign companies
  • There's an arrest warrant out for Qaddafi
    • And some of his associates
    • Issued by Interpol
Now, the bad news:
  • Colonel Qaddafi, creator of Islamic socialism, no longer runs Libya
  • The stray dog foreign puppets
    • Stole the people's gold and other assets
    • Are in league with foreign capitalists
      • And Big Oil
  • Western oppressors are hunting down Qaddafi
    • And some of his associates
As I've said before, so much depends on a person's point of view.

Me? I think most Libyans are much better off with the Colonel somewhere else. I also think that Libyans who supported the Colonel stand a much better chance of survival under the new regime, than their counterparts when Qaddafi dealt with opposition the old fashioned way.

I haven't run into the 'bad news' angle yet, and don't necessarily expect to. The Colonel managed to make too many crazy statements, and ticked off too many other national leaders: my opinion. Besides, I suspect that the 'victim of capitalist oppression' thing is starting to wear thin, even in the more isolated subcultures.

Libya: Now What?

The folks who got help running the Colonel out of their country may succeed in working out a way to rebuild Libya. I hope they do. I also think that they've got a huge job on their hands: and won't get it right the first time. The United States Constitution wasn't this country's first attempt, and that's almost another topic.1

Now that they've got an old-school autocrat out, along with at least some of his supporters, Libyans like Libya's interim prime minister Mahmoud Jibril have decades of mismanagement to fix. Plus disagreements about what Libya should be like, now that the Colonel is gone.

Like I said, it's a huge job.

Interpol, the International Criminal Court at The Hague, and Getting a Grip

I'm no great fan of the United Nations. Too many of the earnest folks there seem determined to 'protect' us from technology. Considering what happened to the Libyan Colonel, I can see why so many at the U.N. don't want ordinary folks to have easy access to small arms: and that's almost another topic.

I don't hate the U.N., either, or live in fear that foreigners will plant 'spider flag of the United Nations' under the red, white, and blue skies of America.

But my less-than-sunny view of our recent attempt to get a "Parliament of man" keeps me from cheering about the International Court at The Hague asking Interpol to arrest a national leader.

I think the Libyan colonel
  • Has been a lousy ruler
  • Probably committed war crimes
  • Should be restrained
But I also think that there's too many crazy assumptions involved in today's international law; and that there's too much politics involved.

I suspect that Colonel Qadhafi's ouster and arrest warrant have as much to do with his scaring the neighbors and insulting the wrong folks, as it does with what he's actually done. Which doesn't mean that I'd want him back in power.

What I think about international law, the U.N., and Libya's troubles, is determined in large part by my religious beliefs. Which may not mean what you think it does.2

I put excerpts from recent news and views about Libya at the end of this post.3

Related posts:
News and views:
1The Articles of Confederation looked good on paper. More:
2 I take my religious beliefs very seriously. Which doesn't mean what quite a few folks feel it does. No matter what you've read, these are not typical American religious people:


(ArizonaLincoln (talk), via Wikipedia, used w/o permission)

I'm not a 'regular American,' when it comes to belief, either. I'm a practicing Catholic. Which also doesn't mean what you may have read in the papers.

Because I'm a practicing Catholic, and learned what that means, I have to be a good citizen, get involved in public affairs, and think of everybody as people: not 'foreigners,' 'commies,' 'oppressors,' or whatever.

In principle, I have nothing against Tennyson's "Parliament of man, the Federation of the world." I think the United Nations was - and is - a good idea, but it's nowhere near being the sort of 'competent international authority' we may eventually develop:
"We're a very long way from having an "international authority with the necessary competence and power" to simply arrest someone like Saddam Hussein. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2308)"
(A Catholic Citizen in America (June 16, 2011))
I'm also no great fan of the United Nations.

Which isn't the same as seeing it as a bunch of foreigners out to 'get' America.

More:

Finally, and off-topic for this blog, as a Catholic I also have the option to learn as much as I can, about how things work:


(The Pontifical Academy of Sciences, used w/o permission)

3 Excerpts from news and views:
"Interpol Issues Qaddafi Arrest Warrant as More Libyan Officials Flee"
Rod Nordland, Africa, The New York Times (September 9, 2011)

"As Interpol issued arrest warrants for the fugitive Libyan autocrat Col. Muammar Qaddafi and two others on Friday, reports came from Niger of a new convoy of high-ranking Libyan officials arriving across the desert.

"In Lyon, France, Interpol said in a statement that it had issued so-called red notices calling for the arrests of Colonel Qaddafi, his son, Seif al-Islam, and Abdullah al-Senussi, the head of the former leader's intelligence agency.

"The red notices, which were requested by the International Criminal Court at The Hague for alleged war crimes committed by the three men, require any of Interpol's 188 member nations to arrest the suspects and turn them over to that court.

"Among the member nations is Niger, which borders Libya on the south and has received a number of convoys of loyalist officials fleeing overland. So far, no high-ranking regime figures were confirmed to be accompanying them...."
"Libya conflict: Gaddafi general 'flees to Niger' "
BBC News (September 9, 2011)

"A senior general in Libyan ex-leader Col Muammar Gaddafi's forces has fled to Niger, according to local sources.

"Officials in the Niger town of Agadez named the commander as General Ali Kana, a Tuareg in charge of Col Gaddafi's southern troops.

"Interpol has issued an arrest warrant for Col Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam and spy chief Abdullah al-Sanussi, whose whereabouts are still unknown.

"Gaddafi loyalists still fighting face an ultimatum to surrender on Saturday.

The National Transitional Council (NTC) has been trying to negotiate a peaceful resolution to stand-offs in a handful of areas - including Bani Walid, Jufra, Sabha and Col Gaddafi's birthplace of Sirte.

"NTC forces last week warned loyalists that they must surrender by Saturday, or face a military onslaught...."
"Libya's interim PM says battle 'not yet over'"
Andrew Harding, Africa correspondent, BBC News (September 9, 2011)

""There are tensions. But no problems."

"That was the neat but rather elusive conclusion of a senior military official here in Tripoli, when I asked him about reports of growing friction between Libya's transitional civil administration - which is moving surprisingly slowly to fill a power vacuum in the capital - and the patchwork of rebel military units - some with hints of a pronounced Islamist agenda - that seized the city from Col Muammar Gaddafi's forces and now seem reluctant to abandon control.

"I put the same question to Mahmoud Jibril, Libya's interim prime minister, who spent much of a rather tetchy news conference in Tripoli begging his countrymen not to squabble and play political games - and accusing unnamed forces of 'jeopardising' stability and of forgetting that the battle against Col Gaddafi's forces was not yet over.

"Earlier, one of his exhausted aides shook his head in wordless despair when I asked him how things were going inside the National Transitional Council.

"But having raised the alarm, Mr Jibril then insisted that the situation was actually fine and that 'dialogue is taking place in a wise fashion' despite the absence of a new constitution to guide them...."
"Libya's Central Bank Will Honour All Bank Agreements"
The Tripoli Post (September 9, 2011)

"Libya's transitional prime minister, Mahmoud Jibril, called for national reconciliation and unity, saying they may be 'more difficult' to achieve than the fight that toppled Muammar Qaddafi's regime.

" 'There are two battles,' Jibril said after arriving in Tripoli two and a half weeks after opposition fighters entered the capital. Achieving unity will be 'our biggest challenge,' he said.

" 'The first battle is against Qaddafi and his regime,' Jibril said at a news conference yesterday. 'This will end by the capturing or the elimination of Qaddafi. However, the battle that is more difficult is against ourselves. How can we achieve reconciliation and achieve peace and security and agree on a constitution? We must not attack each other or push each other away.'

"While Libya has been able to export little oil during the conflict, a 600,000-barrel crude shipment is being offered from the western port of Mellitah, according to three people with direct knowledge of the transaction...."
"Libyan Leaders Face 'Biggest Challenge' Seeking Unity After Qaddafi Ouster"
Chris Stephen and Massoud A. Derhally , Bloomberg (September 8, 2011)

"Libya's central bank, on Thursday sought to reassure 'all foreign partners of Libyan banks who are operating in Libya, the agreements will be honoured.'

"Now under the control of the new leaders, the central bank also said it was having no liquidity issues, thanks to a delivery of bank notes from Britain, and that none of its assets had been stolen.

" 'No assets of the Libyan Central Bank have been stolen, gold or otherwise,' the bank's new governor Gassem Azzoz told reporters in Tripoli, adding that if, as reported, fallen leader Muammar Al Qathafi had taken gold, it was not from central bank coffers.

"Another assurance from the central bank concerns Italy's UniCredit SpA, the first overseas bank to get a licence in Libya, winning permission in August 2010.

"It announced to foreign investors that it would not change the country's stake in UniCredit and will honour banking licences granted by the ousted Al Qathafi regime...."
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Saturday, August 14, 2010

Piracy: 'Everybody Knows' What It is, Legal Definitions Vary

Pirates are guys who dress funny and wave swords around while cracking jokes - in perfect 21st-century American English. In the movies.

Pirates are other guys who dressed funny, and lived hundreds of years ago.

Pirates are Somalians who plunder ships.

Very few people, I think, really approve of pirates: although they make dandy characters in adventure stories. But trying to nail down what makes a person a pirate, and make the definition stick in a court of law: that's not so easy.

Thrashing out what, exactly, is piracy - and who, exactly, is a pirate is a very practical matter for some lawyers in Norfolk, Virginia:
"Who's a Pirate? In Court, A Duel Over Definitions"
Law, The Wall Street Journal (August 14, 2010)

"Not since Lt. Robert Maynard of the Royal Navy sailed back triumphantly to nearby Hampton Roads in 1718 with the severed head of Blackbeard swinging from his bowsprit has this Navy town been so embroiled in the fight against piracy.

"For the first time since the Civil War, accused pirates will be put on trial this fall in a federal courtroom. The defendants are six Somali men fished out of the Gulf of Aden, between Somalia and Yemen, in April after allegedly firing on a U.S. Navy ship, which blew apart the tiny skiff they were on.

"Prosecuting pirates, rather than hanging them from the yardarm, is the modern world's approach to the scourge of Somali piracy that has turned huge swathes of the Indian Ocean into a no-go zone for commercial vessels.

"But there's a problem: Some 2,000 years after Cicero defined pirates as the "common enemy of all," nobody seems able to say, legally, exactly what a pirate is.

"U.S. law long ago made piracy a crime but didn't define it. International law contains differing, even contradictory, definitions. The confusion threatens to hamstring U.S. efforts to crack down on modern-day Blackbeards.

"The central issue in Norfolk: If you try to waylay and rob a ship at sea-but you don't succeed-are you still a pirate?..."
What, exactly, is a pirate?"

This isn't a silly question - and it's not, I think, something dreamed up by bleeding-heart liberals or [insert your favorite conspirators] to subvert truth, justice, and the American way.

Three centuries back, when Captain Edward Teach/Blackbeard (1680-1718) made his way into the history books - and America's cultural memory - defining a pirate seems to have been fairly straightforward. In the European colonies, at any rate.

A pirate was someone who harassed or plundered your monarch's interests. Or someone identified as a pirate by your monarch. The system was simple, fairly straightforward, and - for the most part - effective.

That was then, this is now.

Corny as this sounds, America is a country that's ruled by law, not the whims of whoever's in charge at the moment. Yes, I know that stupid, wrong things have been done in the past - and will continue to be done. I'm not talking about the comparatively few times that the system hasn't - and doesn't - work. I'm talking about the way it is supposed to work. And, eventually, does.

(For example: we finally outlawed slavery - after about a century, and a major war; and the federal government got around to acknowledging that rounding up people because their ancestors had lived in Japan was stupid and wrong.)

Blackbeard and the other pirates whose activities inspired adventure stories have been dead for a long time. Piracy? Not so much.


(ICC International Maritime Bureau, via The Wall Street Journal, used w/o permission)

Piracy is still a very real problem: and it's not limited to waters off Somalia.

Dealing with piracy, while working within a framework of law that's intended to protect us from each other and - importantly - from whatever impulse seizes our leaders at the moment.

Besides a quick overview of the last few thousand years of piracy, The Wall Street Journal gives this look at 20th-century lawyers trying to sort sense out of accumulated laws and regulations:
"...The prosecution has leaned heavily on a 1934 ruling by Britain's Privy Council, which pondered the case of a similarly failed attack at sea, near Hong Kong. In that case, the jury found the defendants guilty, but said its verdict was subject to the question of whether it's really piracy if no actual robbery occurs. The court in Hong Kong said it isn't, and acquitted the attackers.

"The Privy Council members, however, after hacking through thickets of legal technicalities, ultimately reached a different conclusion. 'Actual robbery is not an essential element in the crime of piracy,' they said; 'A frustrated attempt to commit piratical robbery is equally piracy.'

"They added, with more than a hint of exasperation: 'Their Lordships are almost tempted to say that a little common sense is a valuable quality in the interpretation of international law.'..."
(WSJ)
I'm inclined to agree with them - but realize that "common sense" depends on what a culture assumes about the nature of reality and human affairs: and, in cases like this, the ideological quirks of leaders.
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Friday, June 18, 2010

Yes, it Could be Worse: Venezuela, Interpol, and TV Station Owner

In today's news.

I am not making this up.
"Venezuela asks Interpol to arrest openly critical TV station's owner"
CNN (June 18, 2010)

"Venezuela has asked Interpol to arrest the owner of the only TV station still openly critical of leftist President Hugo Chavez, the government announced Friday.

"Guillermo Zuloaga, president of Globovision, is accused of illegally storing vehicles with the intent to sell them for a profit, the Venezuelan government said when it issued an arrest warrant last week. His son, also named Guillermo, also is wanted.

"Zuloaga and his son have said that he is being persecuted for political purposes and that the charges are trumped up...."
I remember the 'good old days,' when red-white-and-blue-blooded Americans expressed the wish that people who criticized the country either be jailed or 'go back where they came from.'

Today, another demographic has expressed similar desires. The cherished assumptions are different, the slogans aren't quite the same: but the old 'anybody who doesn't agree with me should be silenced' is still there.

Like the old saying goes, "be careful what you wish for."

Related posts:
A tip of the hat to CNN_Networks, on Twitter, for the heads-up on their article.
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Monday, April 26, 2010

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir Wins Election! Genocide? What Genocide?

Sometimes it's appropriate to let bygones be bygones. Sometimes, not.

Take the example of a small country whose military ruler likes to be called "president," and who had an election recently to prove his point. Several years ago, natives in a backward part of this small country dropped dead in large numbers. Rather abruptly, in many cases.

"Genocide" is such a harsh word. And, just because the International Court indicted this gentleman regarding those dead natives: well, can't we just forget the past and move on?

Looks like that's what's happening.

And I'm not comfortable about the situation. At all.

'Genocide' is Such a Harsh Word

The small country is Sudan. The leader is Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir. He won an election recently. The official poll numbers say so.

The BBC didn't, as far as I could tell, mention the little matter of dead natives in the Darfur region on Sudan. CNN did, in the 14th paragraph of their article:
"...Al-Bashir, a former military officer who took power in a bloodless coup in 1989, has been indicted over allegations of war crimes by the International Criminal Court...." (14th paragraph, CNN)
Genocide? CNN didn't bring up that little matter. It's such a harsh word, anyway.

Besides, it's those Americans who claim that lots of black people dropping dead in Sudan was genocide:
"...When rebels took up arms in Darfur, he armed militias to crush the uprising, unleashing a wave of violence Washington still calls genocide -- a charge dismissed by Khartoum...."
(Reuters)
The concentration camps? Hey, those kids were "rebels" who "took up arms" - and besides, it's the American government that's fussing about it. 'Everybody knows' what those Americas are like.

And anyway, they weren't called "concentration camps." Millions of people were displaced - a nice way of saying "forced out of their homes" - and humanitarian aid was easier to deliver if the refugees were mostly in a few places. Then, convoys carrying food and other supplies to the camps were attacked.

Genocide, Oppression, and All That

Not everybody is on the same page as the American government, when it comes to that little oopsie in Sudan. News, quoted in an earlier post, from 2008:
"Sudan President's Arrest Sought by ICC Over Darfur (Update5)"
Bloomberg (July 14, 2008)

"The International Criminal Court's prosecutor is seeking the arrest of Sudan's President Umar al- Bashir, alleging he bears 'criminal responsibility' for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur....

"...The ICC is the only permanent tribunal for prosecuting individuals responsible for war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity committed anywhere in the world. Its first judges were installed in 2003.

"The ICC has approved 12 arrest warrants that resulted in the custody of four people, said Dicker.

"The court was modeled on temporary tribunals set up to try war crime cases stemming from conflicts in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia as well as the first such trials held in the German city of Nuremberg after World War II...."
CNN wasn't quite as reticent about that little matter of genocide back then:
"CNN exclusive: ICC prosecutor on Darfur charges"
CNN (July 14, 2008)

"The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court is seeking the arrest of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on charges of genocide in a five-year campaign of violence in the country's Darfur region. Luis Moreno-Ocampo spoke exclusively to CNN's Nic Robertson ahead of his announcement on Monday of the charges.

"Nic Robertson: What exactly are you accusing President Bashir of?

"Luis Moreno-Ocampo: We request a warrant for the crime of genocide -- 6a, b and c -- basically massive rapes and the condition of 2.5 million people -- in addition we charged him with crimes against humanity and war crimes.

"Q. For genocide though -- attempt to destroy an ethnic group in whole or in part -- which is an intent -- how do you prove intent?..."

"Sudanese president charged with genocide"
CNN (July 14, 2008)

"The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has filed genocide charges against Sudan's president for a five-year campaign of violence in Darfur.

"Luis Moreno-Ocampo on Monday urged a three-judge panel to issue an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir to prevent the deaths of about 2.5 million people forced from their homes in the war-torn region of Darfur and who are still under attack from government-backed Janjaweed militia...."
Not everybody sees what happened in Sudan quite the same way, though:
"Arab parliament slams ICC move against Sudanese president "
Xinhua (July 15, 2008)

"The Interim Arab Parliament (IAP) on Monday criticized the plan of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue an arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for alleged war crimes in Darfur, the Egyptian official MENA news agency reported.

"The IAP is 'amazed and dismayed' by reports of the ICC move, which is stirring Arab nations' concern, head of the parliament Mohamed Jassem al-Saqr said in a statement.

"The ICC move raises the fear that the international court could become a tool of major world powers to intimidate smaller countries, al-Saqr was quoted as saying...."
Well, we wouldn't want those "major world powers" to get in the way of national leaders purging their lands of people they don't like, would we?

Seriously, the possibility of a judicial system used for coercive purposes is real. But I think the Interim Arab Parliament might have chosen a better paragon to defend.

Still, with Saudi Arabia setting the standard of excellence for Islamic nations - - - well, that's another topic.

Islam has No Monopoly on Whack Jobs

This would be a good time to highlight a post that's in the "related posts" section:Related posts:In the news:
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Thursday, October 22, 2009

Rwandan Genocide Priest: Terrorism is an Equal-Opportunity Destroyer

A reminder that terrorists, and terrorism, isn't limited to men who order women to shake it (October 21, 2009) and destroy unbelievers - along with the occasional mosque.
"Clergyman linked to Rwandan genocide seized in Italy"
CNN (October 22, 2009)

"A Rwandan accused of 'complicity' in the massacre of students at the college he headed during the country's genocide 15 years ago has been arrested in Italy, where he served as a clergyman, an international police agency said.

"Officers from the Italian Carabinieri and Interpol's National Central Bureau in Rome, Italy, arrested Emmanuel Uwayezu -- who had been wanted in Rwanda, the international police organization Interpol said Wednesday in a news release.

"Uwayezu, 47, is accused of genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, complicity in genocide and crimes against humanity. He is in Italian custody and is awaiting extradition to Rwanda.

"According to Interpol's statement, the Rwandan arrest warrant says Uwayezu was alleged 'to have acted individually and as part of a conspiracy to plan and commit genocide by instigating Hutus to kill Tutsis in the area of Gikongoro, as director of the Groupe Scolaire Marie Merci college in Kibeho.'..."
Granted, "genocide" isn't exactly "terrorism."

"Terrorism," as generally used these days, means "the calculated use of violence (or the threat of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature; this is done through intimidation or coercion or instilling fear". (Princeton's WordNet)

"Genocide" is the "systematic killing of a racial or cultural group". (Princeton's WordNet) Not quite the same thing.

Still, accounts by people who escaped the national socialist's purging of non-Aryans - and one who didn't (see The Diary of Anne Frank) suggest that having your friends, family - and yourself - hunted down is a 'terrifying' experience. In some respects, at any rate. So I don't think that post involving one of the African genocides is all that much off-topic in this blog.

'Hutus? Tutsis? Never Heard of Them'

Not all that many people - outside central Africa - probably have.


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Hutus were living in the lands between Lake Kivu and Lake Ihema about 500 years ago, when Tutsis moved in. European oppressors weren't involved.1 People around the world seem quite capable of getting into trouble with each other, with no outside help.

The Tutsis were controlling the area - and the Hutus - when Europeans arrived.

By the way, I'm sort of ignoring the Twa - who at this point number about 1% of the Rwandan population. The Twa are pygmies, and well under the radar as far as the Hutu-Tutsi conflict are concerned.

The area occupied by Hutu and their Tutsi rulers was so far inland that Europeans didn't get there until the 19th century. After a bit of wrangling, Germany got control of the place in 1885. Belgians and British wanted the place too, or at least pieces of it.

Then, after the end of The War to End All Wars, the (victorious) leaders of Europe, and American President Wilson, drew up the Treaty of Versailles: establishing national boundaries with the sort of heady self-confidence that seems to have been in vogue at the time.

World War II and a century of smaller conflicts might suggest that Versailles wasn't such a good idea, after all.

The treaty, I mean. The Palace, grounds, and town are a magnificent example of 16th- and 17th century city planning and architecture.

Back to Hutus and Tutsis

I suppose that, since the Tutsis were ruling the Hutus at the time, it's understandable that the Europeans regarded them as superior to the Hutus - and ran the area under that assumption.

The Hutus, apparently, didn't like the situation. It's possible to see the Rwandan genocide(s) as a sort of payback. Which isn't to say that I approve. At all.

Resources in the "Background" links, below, give a little more detail about what happened in that part of Africa, and the people who live there.

"The" Rwandan genocide happened in 1994, when about 800,000 people were killed in about 100 days. They weren't all Tutsis: some moderate Hutu were deemed unfit to live, too. Around 2,000,000 surviving Hutus fled to Zaire - which now goes by the name "Democratic Republic of the Congo."

You can't have that many people moving around, without causing a bit of animosity. "Ethnic strife and civil war" led to Zaire's Colonel Joseph Mobutu defeat. He'd run the country since 1965, re-naming it Zaire. Laurent Kabila was the next ruler. He re-named the country the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Other warriors challenged him in 1998. Kabila was assassinated in 2001, with his son succeeding him as ruler. (CIA)

I gather that the Congo Free State Belgian Congo Republic of the Congo Zaire Democratic Republic of the Congo's head of state is called a president. That's a pretty common title these days - but the methods used to determine leadership remind me of the 'good old days,' when my forebears discussed issues of succession with swords and axes, often as not.

Back in Rwanda, the disagreements between Hutus and Tutsis - and other matters - are, in my opinion, far from settled. (BBC) On the other hand, it looks like Rwanda's people are working their way from settling their differences by fighting, to the somewhat less messy methods many countries use today. They'll probably be successful, sooner or later, in getting up to speed with places like Scotland, Norway, and Germany.

Sooner, if they don't get more 'help' like the Versailles Treaty, in my opinion.

My Outlook for Africa - Short Term and Not-So-Short Term

I've speculated that one reason Europe did as well as it did is that there weren't any major powers 'helping' and 'guiding' the Campbells and the MacDonalds, the Vikings and the Gaels, a thousand years ago.

The odds are very good that I had kinfolk on both sides of the wall at Lindisfarne, and I've got a more personal stake in the thaneship of Cawdor than many.2

But somehow mainland Europe got over the Viking raids. Norway is part of the European Economic Area and the European Free Trade Association, although it's not part of the European Union. And quite a few Irishmen are Vikings - or descended from the northmen. But that's another story.

Africa has produced relatively stable kingdoms and empires before, like Kush, Nubia, Songhay, Mali and Ashanti: and, arguably, ancient Egypt. Hollywood notwithstanding, quite a few of the Pharaohs were as obviously African as I'm obviously European. (ethnically - I was born in North Dakota) Sure, they didn't follow the Geneva Conventions, and didn't have bicameral legislatures. Nobody did, before the 18th and 19th centuries.

With the track record they have, I see no reason why people living in Africa can't cobble together functional national or regional governments that are more-or-less in compliance with international law.

If the Vikings, the Irish, the French and the Germans can manage it, I'd say anybody can.

Emmanuel Uwayezu is One of Those People

There's every indication that Emmanuel Uwayezu is a Catholic priest.

For some, that'll be proof that 'those Catholics' are nasty people who commit genocide. Or, that Emmanuel Uwayezu can't be guilty, because he's a priest.

I'm a Catholic, so I'm a bit biased here. If Emmanuel Uwayezu is guilty of the crimes he's accused of, I hope that he's tried, found guilty, and sanctioned appropriately. Genocide isn't just against international law: it's forbidden by the Church (March 8, 2009, A Catholic Citizen in America)

I don't think Emmanuel Uwayezu's (alleged) involvement in a genocide is connected to his being a Catholic priest, any more than I assume that he arranged for the deaths of enemies of his tribe because he's black. I give people credit for having free will: the capacity to choose whether they will do good or evil.

But, like I said, I'm biased.

Related posts: In the news: Background:
1 Around that time, some Europeans were thrashing out who would control Cawdor Castle.

Although I enjoy the play by that Englishman, Shakespeare, the fact is that Macbeth won the castle fairly, by might of arms. I have a passing interest in the thaneship of Cawdor myself, as the clan Campbell held Cawdor when life got a bit more settled in the region - and hold it, I'm told, to this day.

2 I'd be Thane of Cawdor myself, being descended from the clan Cambell, though not bearing the name: if a sizable fraction of a million people were to drop dead. Not that I'd want the title, not at that price.
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Friday, October 3, 2008

United Nations Treats Islam More Equally Than Other Religions

You know how it goes: some of your buddies knock down a couple of skyscrapers and kill a few thousand people, and everybody acts like it's some big deal. Then you get hassled every time you drive around with a bomb in your car, or tell FBI agents that you're planning to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago.

There oughtta be a law.

Actually there is, just about.

The non-binding United Nations Resolution 62/145, was passed very quietly a year or so ago. It's called "Combating Defamation of Religion," which sounds nice enough. The idea is to stop defamation of all religions. Islam is the only one mentioned, though.

That's because of "the intensification of the campaign of defamation of religions and the ethnic and religious profiling of Muslim minorities in the aftermath of 11 September 2001...." Like I said, your buddies kill a few thousand people, and people just won't let you forget.

In some circles, at least, you'd better be all for this attempt to keep people from saying things that Usama bin Laden and President Ahmadinejad don't like: because if you don't, you're a supporter of Islamophobia.

This Kind of Protection We Don't Need

I know what it's like to experience blasphemy. A college professor down the road exercised his academic freedom recently by desecrating a Host. While he was at it, he tore a page out of the Quran, and tossed the lot in the trash.

Then he took a photo and, in somewhat loud taste, posted it.



I'm not a happy camper about that. Particularly since I'm a devout Catholic, and taxed to pay that blasphemer's salary.

But nobody said that life is fair.

I think that it might be appropriate to see if the sort of theft involved in getting the Host he used is prosecutable, but I do not want a law on the books that says that "blasphemy" is illegal: particularly one that singles out Catholics as a protected class.

Special treatment may feel good in the short run, but I think it leads to resentment from people who aren't so privileged, and arrogance on the part of the preferred people.

American law has enough provisions covering libel and slander, to say nothing of physical attacks. I'll settle for that.

The Incredible Disappearing Resolution

Non-binding United Nations Resolution 62/145 isn't available any more. I tried the link provided in a FOXNews article, repeatedly, and got this message from the un.org website:

"There is an end-user problem. If you have reached this site from a web link,
- Through your internet options, adjust your privacy settings to allow cookies or
- Check your security settings and make sure this site has not been blocked or
- You are probably using a very slow link that may not work well with this application.
Otherwise you have reached this site through unauthorized means."

Interesting.

I looked for the resolution with a Google search, and came up with zilch. I would expect that something this high-profile would be easier to find.

Make that 'that should be this high-profile.' There's precious little in the news about Resolution 62/145, "Combating the Defamation of Religion."

Maybe it's not considered all that important, with American presidential elections coming up, a melt-down on Wall Street and a global credit crisis.

On the other hand, maybe most editors don't want to be accused of supporting Islamophobia.

Beware Profiling! Beware!

The United Nations resolution focuses on the "ethnic and religious profiling" of Muslims.

The word "profiling" has gotten abused lately. The idea is that all profiling is like: that appalling stunt played by Israeli airport security, when Abdur-Rahim Jackson was forced to dance before he was allowed to leave the terminal at the Ben Gurion airport; or forcing a woman to take off her nipple rings at the Lubbock, Texas, airport. And, yes, given the way "profiling" is used these days, the Lubbock incident was a result of pierced-people profiling.

That's the lunatic side of "profiling."

There's another sort, which may be used to identify individuals or members of a group. There can be good reasons for this sort of profiling.
A Personal Anecdote
I'm pretty sure I've been the subject of individual profiling. Several years ago (pre-9/11), my daughter and I were taken aside and subjected to a particularly careful search, twice, at the same airport: once on our way to a destination, and again on the way back.

I never got an explanation for this inconvenience, but I think I must have looked like someone that law enforcement was looking for. Which is understandable. I've got a full beard, use a cane, and have a big nose. Odds are, I was close enough to a (probably vague) description to warrant some special attention.
Beware Tall Blonds!
I proposed a thought exercise last year, to put profiling in perspective.

Briefly, I suggested a hypothetical situation where a group of Scandinavian Lutherans, driven to homicidal rage by America's lack of appreciation for lutefisk, had blown up the Sears Tower in Chicago by flying airliners into it. Most of the Lutherans involved were from Sweden. Under those (again, hypothetical) circumstances, I think it would be reasonable to be particularly suspicious of a group boarding an airliner at the Minneapolis St.Paul International Airport, in August, if they were:
  • Tall blond men
  • Wearing bulky overcoats
  • Singing "A Mighty Fortress is Our God"
And yes, if you've read that post, I changed the story a bit. But the point remains: Sometimes profiling makes sense.

And sometimes, as in Mr. Jackson's case, it most profoundly doesn't.
Back to Resolution 62/145
I wish I could have had access to that "Combating the Defamation of Religion" resolution. It might have made more sense that it seems to. As it is, I'm left with a fragment from a news article, that makes me very concerned about the possibility of preferential treatment.

Not that one group being more equal than others is anything particularly new.

One phrase quoted from Resolution 62/145,
"...notes with deep concern the intensification of the campaign of defamation of religions and the ethnic and religious profiling of Muslim minorities in the aftermath of 11 September 2001..." is very close to a 2004 resolution (), part of which reads,
"...Notes with deep concern the intensification of the campaign of defamation of religions, and the ethnic and religious profiling of Muslim minorities, in the aftermath of the tragic events of 11 September 2001..."

The only difference I could see was that the earlier resolution had two more commas, and the phrase, "the tragic events." This is nit-picking: but has blowing away 3,000+ people become less tragic lately?

The Dark Side of Protecting Islam

I'm not sure what I think of this argument, but I'll quote from one of the few articles on this "Combating the Defamation of Religion" resolution.

"Critics give some recent news events as examples of how the U.N. "blasphemy resolution" has emboldened Islamic authorities and threatened Westerners:" The list that follows details
  • Great Britain
    Three men charged for plotting to kill the publisher of the novel "The Jewel of Medina," a fictional account of the Prophet Muhammad and his child bride
  • Afghanistan
    A student is on death row for downloading an article about the role of women in Islam
  • [Unspecified location]
    Two foreigners sentenced to six months in prison for marketing a book deemed offensive to Aisha, one of the Prophet Muhammad's wives
  • Sudan
    A British teacher was sentenced to 15 days in jail in Sudan for offending Islam (see "British Teacher Home from Sudan:
    Gillian Gibbons, Muslim Clerics, and a Teddy Bear named Mohammed    " (December 3, 2007))
  • Egypt
    An Internet blogger sentenced to four years in prison for writing a post that critiqued Islam
  • The Netherlands
    Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh killed after the release of his documentary highlighting the abuse of Muslim women
I suppose, with 6,000,000,000 or so people on the planet, these could be considered isolated incidents: but I'm inclined to see a pattern.

Islamophobic? I Don't Think So

Given what little information is available about "Combating the Defamation of Religion," I don't think that questioning the resolution amounts to supporting Islamophobia.

In the news:
  • "US Mounting Effort To Counter Limits on Speech Critical of Islam"
    Assyrian International News Agency (October 3, 2008)
    • "The Bush administration, European governments and advocates of freedom of speech are ramping up efforts to counter what they see as a campaign by Muslim countries to suppress speech about religion, especially Islam...."
  • "Embassy Row: DEFENDING FREE SPEECH"
    Washington Times op ed (October 3, 2008)
    • "Advocates of free speech and religious liberty Thursday denounced the latest efforts at the United Nations to impose what they call "blasphemy laws" on critics of Islam.
    • " 'An anti-defamation law is a wolf in sheep's clothing,' said Kevin Hasson, founder and president of the Washington-based Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. 'In passing these resolutions, the United Nations is damaging its credibility in the name of protecting hurt feelings.'..."
  • "U.N. Anti-Blasphemy Resolution Curtails Free Speech, Critics Say"
    FOXNews.com (October 3, 2008)
    • "Religious groups and free-speech advocates are banding together to fight a United Nations resolution they say is being used to spread Sharia law to the Western world and to intimidate anyone who criticizes Islam...."
  • "Human Rights Council: The fight-back begins"
    Europe News / International Humanist and Ethical Union (September 30, 2008)
    • "In what was probably a first for the United Nations, delegates to the Human Rights Council heard two Muslims describe Islamism as 'Racism' and tell their listeners that the OIC does not speak for the majority of the world's Muslims. Danish MP and leader of the Liberal Alliance Naser Khader, and Tarek Fatah, founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress were eloquent in their denunciation of the OIC, its Saudi paymesters, Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood...."
  • "US Leading Fight Against Islamophobia Resolution At UN
    TruthNews (September 4, 2008)
    • "The Bush administration, European governments, and religious rights organizations are coalescing to defeat a UN General Assembly resolution that would demand respect for Islam in a preferential way and could be used to even justify persecution of other religious minorities...."
Related posts, on Islam, Christianity, Religion, Culture and the War on Terror.

Related posts, on tolerance, bigotry, racism, and hatred.
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Monday, July 14, 2008

Darfur and the United Nations: Something's Happened

The International Criminal Court wants to arrest Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. The charge is genocide.

I have little doubt that al-Bashir is responsible for much of the death and suffering in southwestern Sudan.
  • If
    • President al-Bashir is arrested
    • He's brought to trial
    • The trial goes smoothly
  • Then
    • There might be some relief for the people in Darfur
    • Al-Bashir's supporters might start starving, raping, and killing more often then they are now
    • What the ICC is doing might cause more suffering in the short term, but help end the Darfur problem
The only thing I'm sure of is that I'm very glad I don't have to make decisions for the ICC.

The matter of placing a head of state under arrest is rather new in international law. The International Criminal Court is a new organization, with roots going back only a little over a half-century, to the Nuremberg trials.

What we're seeing could be as important as the Magna Carta. But I'm not looking forward to what's likely to happen in the short run.

Previous post on this topic: Sudan's President and the ICC in the news:
  • "Sudan President's Arrest Sought by ICC Over Darfur (Update5)"
    Bloomberg (July 14, 2008)
    • "July 14 (Bloomberg) -- The International Criminal Court's prosecutor is seeking the arrest of Sudan's President Umar al- Bashir, alleging he bears 'criminal responsibility' for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur....
    • "...The ICC is the only permanent tribunal for prosecuting individuals responsible for war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity committed anywhere in the world. Its first judges were installed in 2003.
    • "The ICC has approved 12 arrest warrants that resulted in the custody of four people, said Dicker.
    • "The court was modeled on temporary tribunals set up to try war crime cases stemming from conflicts in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia as well as the first such trials held in the German city of Nuremberg after World War II...."
  • "CNN exclusive: ICC prosecutor on Darfur charges"
    CNN (July 14, 2008)
    • "(CNN) -- The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court is seeking the arrest of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on charges of genocide in a five-year campaign of violence in the country's Darfur region. Luis Moreno-Ocampo spoke exclusively to CNN's Nic Robertson ahead of his announcement on Monday of the charges.
    • "Nic Robertson: What exactly are you accusing President Bashir of?
    • "Luis Moreno-Ocampo: We request a warrant for the crime of genocide -- 6a, b and c -- basically massive rapes and the condition of 2.5 million people -- in addition we charged him with crimes against humanity and war crimes.
    • "Q. For genocide though -- attempt to destroy an ethnic group in whole or in part -- which is an intent -- how do you prove intent?..."
  • "Sudanese president charged with genocide"
    CNN (July 14, 2008)
    • "(CNN) -- The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has filed genocide charges against Sudan's president for a five-year campaign of violence in Darfur.
    • "Luis Moreno-Ocampo on Monday urged a three-judge panel to issue an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir to prevent the deaths of about 2.5 million people forced from their homes in the war-torn region of Darfur and who are still under attack from government-backed Janjaweed militia...."
  • "Arab parliament slams ICC move against Sudanese president "
    Xinhua (July 15, 2008)
    • "CAIRO, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The Interim Arab Parliament (IAP) on Monday criticized the plan of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue an arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for alleged war crimes in Darfur, the Egyptian official MENA news agency reported.
    • "The IAP is 'amazed and dismayed' by reports of the ICC move, which is stirring Arab nations' concern, head of the parliament Mohamed Jassem al-Saqr said in a statement.
    • "The ICC move raises the fear that the international court could become a tool of major world powers to intimidate smaller countries, al-Saqr was quoted as saying...."
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Friday, July 11, 2008

Darfur and the United Nations: Something's Happening

The International Criminal Court (ICC) may - or may not - issue a warrant for the arrest of Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. If that happens, it will be the first time that a head of state has been indicted by the ICC while in office.

The Darfur region of Sudan is a mess, and Sudan has been a prime example of weirdly Islamic bullying ("Sudan Defends Islam Against
Blasphemous Teddy Bear" (November 28, 2007)).

I think that what the ICC is expected to do Monday makes sense, and is just.
  • This could be as big a change how global affairs work, as the Magna Carta was, in the way national governments work.
  • Or, it could be a flash in the pan, with little long-term significance.
  • Worse, it could be the start of trouble on a global scale: United Nations leaders, using the authority of the ICC and the power of 'peacekeepers,' to purge ideologically impure regimes from the world - or turn a profit, making the Oil for Food scandal look like stealing petty cash.
I'm no huge fan of the United Nations. My opinion is that the delegates and officials of the global body are just as human and prone to weakness as anyone else. And almost a half-century of United Nations squabbles has done nothing to change that opinion.

However, it's the closest thing we've got to a global legal authority that's competent to deal with situations like Darfur.

I think it's time to give the rule of law a test-run on the global stage.

In the news:
  • "Ambassador: Sudanese president may be charged with genocide"
    CNN (July 11, 2008)
  • "ICC prosecutor likely to name Sudan's Bashir-UN envoy"
    Reuters (July 11, 2008)
    • "UNITED NATIONS, July 11 (Reuters) - The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court is likely to seek the arrest of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in a new war crimes case he will open on Darfur on Monday, a senior European envoy said on Friday.
    • "The prosecution said in a statement on Thursday Luis Moreno-Ocampo would submit to judges "evidence on crimes committed in the whole of Darfur over the last five years" and seek to charge an individual or individuals but gave no details.
    • "Sudan has said any such move could undermine the peace process in Darfur and aid officials fear a potential backlash. The Darfur investigation also could embarrass China, Sudan's close ally, just weeks before the start of the Beijing Olympics...."
    • "China has advised Sudan to cooperate with U.N. efforts to resolve the Darfur crisis but has faced Western criticism as Khartoum's biggest arms supplier and for not using its oil and investment stakes to press harder for an end to the conflict.
  • "Sudan condemns UN Darfur attack"
    BBC (July 10, 2008)
    • "...Sudan's foreign ministry condemned the attack, and urged Western governments to deal more firmly with Darfur rebels.
    • "UN officials have said they suspect the government-backed Janjaweed militia were responsible for the assault, which also left 22 troops wounded...."
  • "ICC to seek arrest of Sudan's Beshir: report"
    AFP (July 11, 2008)
    • "THE HAGUE (AFP) — Prosecutors on the International Criminal Court will seek an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir next week for genocide and crimes against humanity in Darfur, reports said Friday.
    • "ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo will request the warrant on Monday in the first-ever bid before The Hague-based tribunal to charge a sitting head of state with war crimes, said the Washington Post, citing diplomats and UN officials...."
    • "UN officials in Sudan said the Janjaweed -- state-backed Arab militia -- were suspected of carrying out the attack, while Sudan's government blamed the attack on rebels in Darfur.
    • "According to the Washington Post, representatives of the UN Security Council's five permanent members -- China, Britain, the United States, France and Russia -- met UN officials Thursday on the safety of Darfur peacekeepers in the wake of the attack...."
    • "Beshir's regime has refused to allow the deployment of Nepalese, Scandinavian and Thai soldiers and remains reluctant about any non-African troops reinforcing the mission.
    • "In talks with UN Security Council ambassadors in Khartoum last month, after Moreno-Ocampo accused the Sudan state apparatus of war crimes in Darfur, Beshir slammed what he called a vicious campaign against his country.
    • "Sudan rejects the ICC's jurisdiction and refuses to surrender two war crimes suspects already named.
    • "NGO Human Rights Watch said the possibility of Beshir's arrest was 'very exciting'.
    • "If the rumours were true, 'for us this is what the institution was created for ... the fight against impunity' at the highest level, spokeswoman Geraldine Mattioli told journalists in The Hague...."
Update July 11, 2008
Another news link:
"Sudan Leader To Be Charged With Genocide"
Washington Post (July 11, 2008)
(Link provided by cooper in a comment on "Darfur - Heads Up!" (BlogCatalog discussion thread, started July 11, 2008)))
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Friday, October 19, 2007

"Chemical Ali," Slaughter, Sunni Sensitivities
and Iraq

"Chemical Ali" was tried and convicted of genocide and war crimes: along with two other Hussein-era bosses. U.S. forces are holding on to him, until the Iraqi government sorts out what they want done with this mass-murderer.

"Chemical Ali" and two other Saddam helpers are facing a death sentence: Hussein's Defense Minister, Sultan Hashim al-Tai; and Saddam's Iraqi armed forces deputy operations director, Rashid Mohammed.

As usual, it's a complicated situation. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani opposes the death penalty, and says he won't sign off on the execution of "Chemical Ali," at least. (The Associated Press (AP) story I'm getting this information from focused almost exclusively on al-Majid.)

Kurds, as a group, would like to see "Chemical Ali" dead. I can't say that I blame them. On the other hand, President Jalal Talabani is a Kurd.

Here's where it gets howling-at-the-moon crazy.

President Talabani is also a Sunni Muslim, but not, I trust, one of the "Sunni leaders" the AP was talking about: "Sunni leaders pressed to delay the hangings, saying they could incite violence and cripple already fragile bids to improve ties between Iraq's rival groups."

You see, the Sunnis in central Iraq (obviously not the Kurdish Sunnis in the north) apparently just loved Saddam Hussein. He was their good buddy, and sent lots of money and favors their way. Great guy, from a Sunni point of view.

At least, that's what we seem to be expected to believe.

Maybe it's true. Maybe the Sunni Muslims - at least the ones in central Iraq - are so greedy, so ignorant, and so short-sighted that they don't realize that
  • Uncle Saddam is no longer around
  • Their ride on the gravy train is over
  • That they've got a chance at having a piece of the action in post-Saddam Iraq -
    IF they don't act like a bunch of fools
I sincerely hope that "Sunni leaders" who are trying implicitly threatening violence to save a man guilty of genocide are a minority of dolts, and that they are shortly going to get an intense exposure to reality.

I also hope that most of the hold-up in the disposition of "Chemical Ali" and the other detritus left over from Hussein's rule is more a matter of thrashing out correct procedures by a very new government that's under intense pressure.
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Wednesday, October 10, 2007

International Law Under a Global Caliphate:
Think About It

A particularly nasty rape-and-murder case in Texas had nothing to do with the war on terror, until the International Court of Justice (IC) got involved.

Back in 1993, two teenage girls took a shortcut through a park, interrupted a gang initiation, and were then raped and killed: a process that took about an hour. Ernesto Medellin, the gang member who first grabbed one of the girls, and snapped a nylon belt while strangling one of them, is a Mexican national.

He informed police of his status, but was not informed that he could ask the Mexican consulate for help. Medellin didn't find out that he could appeal to the Mexican consulate until after he was sentenced to death.

Now, the International Court of Justice says that the rights of Medellin and 50 others were violated this way. As I understand it, the IC says their convictions should be overturned, and they should be given new trials.

The White House agrees.

What we have we have here is state law, federal law, and international law getting in each other's way. The IC and the White House point to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of 1963, or "1963 Vienna Convention" for short. The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments on the mess today.

I'm inclined to side with states' rights. On the other hand, I can't support the death penalty (It's a Catholic thing: If there's no other way to protect the innocent, the Church accepts executions - but given what can be done these days, it's rare that killing the criminal is the only solution (heavy paraphrase of the Catechism, 2267).)

And, although I think that eventually there will very likely be a global authority that's competent to rule, I don't think we're there yet.

Here's where the war on terror comes in.

A reasonable goal for Al Qaeda and all the other jihadists, from their point of view, is to establish a global caliphate. Then, we'd have their version of the Islamic dream: the entire world run along the lines of Afghanistan under the Taliban.

I suspect that many people would be more passionate about America winning, if they realized that, although the St. Louis Gateway Arch might be sufficiently abstract to survive, the Statue of Liberty would almost certainly join the Twin Towers as a former feature of the New York City skyline.

I'm not just being emotional here: an over-size, unislamic statue - of a woman - symbolizing freedom, of all things? If I had a Talabanoid mindset, that, and the Lincoln Memorial, would be among the first landmarks to go.

The, there are the dress codes that would be imposed. Women wouldn't be allowed to vote. Or drive. And certainly not go outside the home, unless accompanied by a male relative.

International law, under a Wahhabi Islamic caliphate, would enforce standards that I think many Americans would find more offensive than insisting on the re-trail of a convicted rapist.
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Blogroll

Note! Although I believe that these websites and blogs are useful resources for understanding the War on Terror, I do not necessarily agree with their opinions. 1 1 Given a recent misunderstanding of the phrase "useful resources," a clarification: I do not limit my reading to resources which support my views, or even to those which appear to be accurate. Reading opinions contrary to what I believed has been very useful at times: sometimes verifying my previous assumptions, sometimes encouraging me to change them.

Even resources which, in my opinion, are simply inaccurate are sometimes useful: these can give valuable insights into why some people or groups believe what they do.

In short, It is my opinion that some of the resources in this blogroll are neither accurate, nor unbiased. I do, however, believe that they are useful in understanding the War on Terror, the many versions of Islam, terrorism, and related topics.