WHAT'S GOOD FOR THEE, NOT ME!
by Mumia Abu-Jamal
[Col. Writ. 7/3/02]
Rarely does an imperial power reveal how it sees itself vis-à-vis the rest of the world than in the present diplomatic struggle over whether the writ of the newly-formed International Criminal Court will run to cases involving centurions of the American Empire.
Using its vast economic and military power, the Americans are threatening the UN with desertion from its peacekeeping efforts abroad if it doesn't issue an exemption for American troops from the jurisdiction of the ICC.
What an interesting concept!
Why should the most powerful, heavily-armed military in the world be worried about being hauled into court for war crimes, if they're not involved in war crimes?
From the serial killers of Vietnam's My Lai, to the ethnic cleansers of Korea's No Gun Ri, America has some experience in war crimes, but little experience in punishing the perpetrators. The murderous baby killers of My Lai were pardoned by the US President, and No Gun Ri did not come to light until a half-century after the slaughter of Korean civilians.
How telling that the nation that crows loudest about 'the rule of law,' 'democracy,' 'human rights,' and 'international law' cringes at the notion of the ICC, an institution erected to enforce international law, through a kind of quasi-democracy of nations (with some, like members of the Security Council), more equal than others.
For a Superpower, what is there to fear?
The American Empire fears the spectacle of a Dr. Henry Kissinger in the dock, being examined on the imperial cold war crimes against Chilean democracy, or barbarous excesses against Vietnam, Laos, or Cambodia.
It fears Clinton being queried on Al-Shifa, the pharmaceutical plant bombed into oblivion in the Sudan, which caused death on the scene, and secondary death and suffering from the loss of affordable medicines that Al-Shifa provided.
It fears a real examination of how Americans conducted themselves in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, which served as the cinematic backdrop of the propaganda film, "Black Hawk Down."
It fears the world calling the US to book on its secret wars against every democracy on earth, by its saboteurs and agents of the CIA.
It fears the judgment of the world that it has treated as its vassal, a world that it is accustomed to prosecuting with the weapons of war, words, or wealth, and never being the subject of prosecution.
It fears real equality among nations, even in a structure where it is
primus inter pares
(Latin for 'first among equals') like the UN.
Like ancient Rome, the American Empire admits of no power greater than itself, and no law superior to its own imperial whim.
Like Rome, it is a law unto itself.
Text © copyright 2002 by Mumia Abu-Jamal.
All rights reserved.
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