Iraq is right in relying on international courts to prosecute the Ba’athists criminals protected by Assad
Washington DC – August 30, 2009 (Farid Ghadry Blog) — After the gruesome and public killing of Hariri, Assad’s thirst for blood against Lebanon relentlessly continued to kill some of its brightest people including Gibran Tueini and George Hawi. Lebanon could not be safe until it served the Assad family the same medicine they have been serving their country since 1963.
With the assistance from several countries, Lebanon convinced the UN to establish an International Tribunal the world over is looking up to as a mean to bridge the gap between civility and barbarism in the Middle East. Thus, Lebanon became the first country in the Middle East to use International Law to reign the terror of Assad.
Now, we come to find out that Iraq may actually resort to the same tactic by calling on international laws to protect its sovereignty and its people from the barbaric Assad regime.
Iraq’s foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, announced yesterday to Reuters the preparation of a legal study to explore the formation of an international court to seek the Ba’athists in Damascus who have been terrorizing Iraq protected by the Ba’athist regime in Damascus. He said: “The process is expected to take a quite some time in view of the number of factors involved.”.
Since Assad use the sacred voting rights of the Syrian people to further his time in office, I believe time is of no consequence here to the formation of the court because more than likely, Assad will elect himself again, with anywhere between 96% and 98% of the votes, in 2014, 2021, 2028, 2035, and if he lives that long in 2042.
Violent regimes like those of Syria and Iran use terror as a shortcut to achieve their goals in the shortest of time. On the other hand, application of international laws are a slow, methodical processes intent on weaving through human cruelty and deception to arrive at the ultimate truth. But because tyrannical rulers use time to their advantage, time used by international courts serve a meaningful purpose in the game of carrots and sticks.
Could Lebanon and Iraq be the trend setters in a region in dire need of a course correction?
Could the same “realism” prevailing today help international laws to become the Sword of Damocles over Dionysius (II) or in this case Assad (II) or Ahmadinajead (II) for two stolen elections?
Or will “realism” interfere once again to keep the region in a fossilized state of “robustus”?
Short of a concerted worldwide effort in support of international courts and full application of their rulings (The world still awaits the arrest of Bashir of Sudan) as a shield against terror, the west will revert back to using its own resources, human or otherwise to protect its interests. International laws are the lesser of two evils to “realists” and the better choice for “humanists”.
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