For those of you who are interested in the legal basis of the above
statement...take a look at
url: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36738086
According to the article the only basis for a criminal prosecution is
one of a Crime Against Public Office, regarding his conduct...whether
the courts and establishment would have the stomach to conduct such a
prosecution is another matter.
The third option which is open to the public is either private
prosecutions by individual victims of the war, or civil proceedings,
both of which would take many many years from now to come to fruition.
It seems to me that as long as politicians and members of the
executive cannot be held responsible, apart from that of minor public
accountability, that the atrocities, which were so well presented and
argued by the USA the UK and the USSR and other victorious countries, on
the topic of human rights, at the Nuremberg trials, in particular the
legal right "not to obey the legal orders of the state, when they are
crimes against humanity " will continue. The lessons of the trials at
Nuremberg have never been learned...perhaps never will be learned, or
allowed to be learned; which is why nation states continue to conduct
international affairs in ways which lead to mass deaths and destruction.
Of course, the hundreds of thousands of people in Iraq and the
surrounding nations have no recourse to justice, compensation,
retribution or accountability of leaders at all for what happened in the
illegal war which was conducted against them. Some neocons even say
that it was the Iraqi people's own fault. No one mentions that...very
few seems to care. Folks are more locked up in their own little world,
than they are about anyone elses...Still, why should folks bother...and
that's the way of the world, as long as they are getting by, whatever
and whatsitmatter. And such attitudes, and downright bad habits, like
that at Abugraib spread to other areas of the world including back home,
when such accountability is dismissed. I firmly believe that attitudes
and policies adopted abroad also develop from home, they feed on one
another.
One wonders if the people of the US. instead of raising their fists in
salute, would be better holding up their hands above their heads, every
time they pass a member of law enforcement, and carrying a badge saying
"Don't shoot me, I am not armed", or else bowing down and kissing the
shoes of the British officers, like the Sikhs were forced to do, in
India after the Indian Mutiny, whether this would get some changes to a
point where the law enforcement represents and protects the people
instead of killing them for doing as they are told, for shouting at
them. At some stage there has to be some change in attitude and
training and belief systems if there isn't to be another Civil War in
the USA...it is not just blacks that are getting picked on, singled out
or categorised as terrorists before they are suspected of doing anything
wrong. The US executive and administration are doing this all over the
world, in the name of "Enduring Freedom".
It was noticeable that in the mobile phone video in which the driver was
shot...was it 4 times, for doing as he was told, and for telling the
police officer that he was armed and carried a license to do so, and was
in the process of reaching to get his id to show it, that the officer
was shaking like a leaf, his gun trembling, yet still pointed at the
dying man, with his arm shot off, that there was a woman in the car and
a child...yet all he did was continue to point his gun...and scream
nonsense at everyone, whilst the woman tried to calm him. I don't know
whether it was the adrenalin pumping, or whether it was because he was
scared, or because he was so shocked by what he had done...that will be
found out later. But, whatever it was, the behaviour needs to change.
A little bit of training in health and safety of the public, perhaps,
how to deal with the public so that the situations don't become
inflamatory; how to ensure the citizens rights, these are some of the
ways of protecting the officer's life and his rights and duties to
enforce the law. How to deal with the aftermath of a shooting and care
for the victims instead of beating them up and handcuffing them and then
ignoring their needs, allowing them to bleed to death and then
eventually getting round to getting an ambulance, after putting in a
police report might go some of the way to solving what could become, and
is becoming a raging conflict between heavily armed citizen against
citizen, innocent victims, children, bystanders and the heavily armed US
state.
One wonders what would have been the outcome if the lady didn't have her
mobile phone on at the time of the incident...would it have been a
different story? Should all law enforcement and all citizens using the
sidewalk, or the public highway now have a camera affixed to their
person, in the interests of public safety, recording their every move,
what they are doing and where they are. Is that the way forward?
ATB
Dougie.
