Thoughts on the military and military activities of a diverse nature. Free-ranging and eclectic.

Monday, June 04, 2007

Trial!


This is coolbert:

Here is the latest headline:

"Charles Taylor to stand trial"

"Former Liberian President Charles Taylor goes on trial in the Hague on Monday for allegedly orchestrating unspeakable atrocities in Sierra Leone's bloody civil war."

Accused of a variety of monstrous atrocities. Accused of having:

* "armed, funded and controlled rebels who murdered, raped and mutilated civilians"

[these folks Taylor is accused of controlling were the RUF of Sierra Leone. Chopping off the limbs of the opposition was a favorite tactic of the RUF. Notorious for their behavior which they practiced with apparent relish.]

"mutilated more by hacking off hands and limbs with axes and machetes."

"Many victims had the initials of rebel groups carved into their skin with burning-hot bayonets."

"Children were sent out with burlap bags to hack off and collect limbs and were punished if the bags were not full when they returned."

Charges include:

* "11 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity"

This trial is described as being:

"Despite the difficulties, the Taylor trial has been hailed as a watershed for war-torn western Africa and its people."

Problem with this watershed event. The first day of the trial, Taylor decides not to show up. Just another ho-hum day for the ex-President of Liberia. He decides not to attend the trial.

[he is on trial and he says HE WILL NOT ATTEND??!!]

Also, his lawyer walks out the door and the interpreter cannot keep pace with the translations!!

Well, I guess with the latest version of the Nuremberg Tribunals, that is all it boils down to. If you are accused of having committed war crimes and do not want to attend the trial, you just decline to be at the proceedings and sit in your cell. And that is that??!!

The judge at the trial is a woman who hails originally from Uganda. What she needs to do is to MAKE MR. TAYLOR ATTEND HIS OWN TRIAL. MAKE HIM DO SO!! Perhaps that would be too harsh for some??

coolbert.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

You're talking about two different things - forcing Charles Taylor to sit at the defense table and getting Charles Taylor to co-operate with the administration of justice by aiding in his defense.

As for the latter I expect someone who committed the acts of which he is accused to knock down every chair and lamp and throw all the wrenches into the works he can to evade punishment, illustrating the need to devise a system of justice that does not require the presence or participation of a defendant.

As for the former, Taylor is severely social deviant; predatory, disconnected and remorseless. To put it plainly he'd kill you, me and ten dozen others then order salmon with vinaigrette over a bed of spring greens and white wine. If sharp attorneys and gripping witness testimony couldn't shake Goering, Eichmann, Manson or Kaczynski, what hope has the crew that botched the Milosevic case?

No, let the(insert vulgarity here)stay in a cell.

2:18 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You're talking about two different things - forcing Charles Taylor to sit at the defense table and getting Charles Taylor to co-operate with the administration of justice by aiding in his defense.

As for the latter I expect someone who committed the acts of which he is accused to knock down every chair and lamp and throw all the wrenches into the works he can to evade punishment, illustrating the need to devise a system of justice that does not require the presence or participation of a defendant.

As for the former, Taylor is severely social deviant; predatory, disconnected and remorseless. To put it plainly he'd kill you, me and ten dozen others then order salmon with vinaigrette over a bed of spring greens and white wine. If sharp attorneys and gripping witness testimony couldn't shake Goering, Eichmann, Manson or Kaczynski, what hope has the crew that botched the Milosevic case?

No, let the(insert vulgarity here)stay in a cell.

2:18 AM

 

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