Posted on 03/29/2007 8:36:19 AM PDT by kronos77
Bump for later reading.
Oric is accused of slaughtering civilians. Mladic is accused of killing enemy prisoners of war. Technically either is a war-crime, but I can see a qualitative difference between the two. In the second case you are visiting rough-justice upon the ones who launched repeated attacks upon civilians.
Oric is a good example of someone who ought to swing from a rope. Mladic's crime makes no sense unitl you consider Oric's operations. Certainly Mladic should suffer no more punishment than Oric. If Oric's crimes merit two years in jail, then that sounds about right for Mladic.
The fact that the court was unable to effectively prosecute Oric by civilian standards of evidence tells you everything you need to know about it. Its mission is unrealistic. This is not a job for a civilian court.
You'll notice that the US refuses to submit to it, neither its own troops, nor the terrorists being held at Guantanamo. We're handling the military tribunals ourselves. When you capture someone on the battlefield, its not a pristine crime scene, and you aren't out there gathering evidence with tweezers and plastic baggies. When you hold a hearing to determine his fate, its not about his "guilt" or "innocence", its purely about whether or not he's a continuing threat. If he's a threat, you don't let him go. If he's a threat even in jail, like Saddam, then he gets the rope. If he is no longer a threat, he gets an airline ticket home. But its purely a subjective decision, based on military judgement.
In the case of US troops that commit war-crimes, again we are handling the court-martials ourselves. US military courts are probably a good deal more severe than the Hague, our guys are held to a pretty tight standard. These are actual trials with rules of evidence. But we aren't going to turn these men over to a foreign court.
In this case, the Hague has decided that Oric is no longer a threat, clearly. He's home in his bed, having got credit for time served during the trial. Based on that, I don't see how anyone could judge Mladic a threat. If Oric walks, Mladic walks. Just my opinion.
Well scribed.
I would have to admit that you are a very astute individual.
You passed my exam :-)
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