War-crimes trials need not be spectacles
Re “A Disheveled Day in Iraq Court,” Feb. 14
In 1945, no one whined that “the trial will be unfair and violate the defendant’s rights” during or after the Nuremberg military tribunals. The defendants were instructed and expected to follow the Allied judges’ orders on how to dress, how to act and how to accept court-appointed defense lawyers.
Except for some halfhearted attempts by a few U.S. and international groups to challenge the validity of the Nuremberg court -- because defendants were not allowed to challenge the selection of judges and because there were no trials conducted for war crimes committed by people from Allied countries -- the world accepted the legitimacy of the Nuremberg tribunal and its rulings.
Why then do the three major allied powers fighting the war in Iraq -- the U.S., Britain and Italy -- not establish a similar military tribunal to judge the atrocities committed by Iraq’s former leadership and conclude the proceedings with accelerated speed, so that Iraq can go on reforming itself as a democracy and our troops can finally come home?
GORDON FROEDE
Cheviot Hills
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