11:45 am
One of These Things Is Not Like the Others
Let’s play compare and contrast for a moment, boys and girls. Today’s topic is U.S. Government support for international justice. See if you can find which of these things is not like the others.
1. Here’s the statement released by the White House on July 21, 2008 regarding the arrest of alleged Bosnian genocidaire Radovan Karadzic:
Today, Serbian authorities conducted a successful operation to arrest Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb wartime political leader, on charges of war crimes committed during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Karadzic, who has long been a fugitive from justice, has been indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity, including crimes relating to the sniping campaign against civilians in Sarajevo and the taking of UN peacekeepers as hostages. These offenses include a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing directed at non-Serbs, organized attacks on places of worship, the operation of concentration camps, and the mass murder of thousands of Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian Croat civilians.
We congratulate the Government of Serbia, and thank the people who conducted this operation for their professionalism and courage. This operation is an important demonstration of the Serbian Government’s determination to honor its commitment to cooperate with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The timing of the arrest, only days after the commemoration of the massacre of over 7,000 Bosnians committed in Srebrenica, is particularly appropriate, as there is no better tribute to the victims of the war’s atrocities than bringing their perpetrators to justice.
Emphasis added.
2. Here’s the statement released by the State Department on July 25, 2008 regarding the arrest of alleged Rwandan genocidaires Sylvere Ahorugeze and Callixte Mbarusimana:
The United States welcomes the July 16 arrest in Stockholm of Sylvere Ahorugeze, indicted by the Government of Rwanda for genocide and would welcome further steps to bring Ahorugeze to justice that are consistent with Swedish law. The arrest of Ahorugeze follows the July 7 arrest of Callixte Mbarusimana in Frankfurt, also indicted by the Government of Rwanda for genocide. The arrests of Sylvere Ahotugeze and Callixte Mbarusimana send a powerful signal that there is no refuge for the perpetrators of crimes against humanity.
Emphasis added.
3. Here’s the statement made by President Bush during his July 15, 2008 press conference regarding the indictment by the International Criminal Court of Sudanese President Hassan al-Bashir on ten counts of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity:
Well, we’re not a member of the ICC, so we’ll see how that plays out.
No emphasis necessary, or for that matter, even possible.
And our score after seven innings: irrational fear of the ICC 1, international justice 0.
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