Showing posts with label Elizabeth Wilsmhurst. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Elizabeth Wilsmhurst. Show all posts

Brexit, Blair, Bolton and The ICC - The Healing Powers of Prosecution

Iraq is never far from my mind.





The Healing Powers of Prosecution.


Last year, in July 2017, an Iraqi citizen's attempt to bring a private prosecution against Tony Blair for War crimes was rejected, because the "High court rules that there is no crime of aggression in English law under which former PM could be charged".

"The decision blocks an attempt by a former Iraqi general, Abdulwaheed al-Rabbat, to bring a private war crimes prosecution against the former Labour leader."


John Bolton , National Security Advisor to President Trump, tipped as the next US Ambassador to the UN, has this week threatened the ICC, it's officials, funding and infrastructure with direct material reprisals if they pursue any American citizen or military personnel for War Crimes, anywhere. "The ICC is dead to us.." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZkXVqHMzV4 And here, an history of John Boltons criticisms of the ICC. John is a nice man, but tough, he'd have us all believe. He is, of course, a Patriot. He softly says, "The ICC is dead to us.." speaking for the US State, the way a 'compassionated' christian right winger semi-ideologue would to an errant son or daughter, who had become athiest, and was being disowned ... the drama, the guile, the guilt tripping..... all to mask a heart of stone, an intent towards evil. Nice man, nasty behaviour? Charm, and presentation skills. So what is the ICC? How does it relate to the UK, and why does no-one in the Brexit Camp speak of the ICC in the same tones as John Bolton?

The ICC is a European project, based on European Human Rights Legislation and International War Law. Surely the Brexiteers would be delighted to see that go, yet they rarely mention it. That is a bit odd. As if they did not want to talk about it. The ICC is convened and instituted under the Rome Statute of The International Criminal Court, and is the recognised International Court where War Crimes, Genocide, etc are prosecuted.
The ICC has been ratified under international treaty by 132 of 195 States. The USA is a signatory, but has not ratified the ICC.
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The UK is a signatory and has ratified the ICC, by international treaty, and the International Criminal Court Act of 2001 did integrate the ICC and it's procedures into UK Statute Law, in the aftermath of the Pinochet debacle. Tony Blair over saw this. I bet he regrets it now.... His role in Brexit is divisive, and he is fixated on using the Remain extreme to undermine Corbyn and the democractic emergence within the Labour movement. Whilst the judgement of the High Court (see above) is technically correct, it is in fact misleading, and therefore wrong.

An ICC investigation and indictment can be initiated here in the UK. Once indicted, the defendant is trasferred to the Juridstriction of the ICC. Because there is no Statute Law to prosecute a War Crime in English or Welsh Law. Obviously. I repeat , the investigation can be initated in the UK, in England, and if it leads to an indictment, the prosecution will happen at The Hague, and thus the indicted defendants are transferred to The Hague for actual prosecution.
I think some people are very worried, very worried indeed. Who is worried, and why?
Jeremy Corbyn is among the few leading active politicians who has suggested that War Crimes investigations into Iraq are a necessity for the UK State to regain it's honour. He has some support among the populatioon for this. Indeed, the evidence we already have demands it, and nothing less.

However, we have a problem. Here it is.
1. The fact is that unless the next Goverment has the support of an active grass roots across the country and also within the Civil Service, Military, Police and Justice Systems, and the News media, this cannot succeed.

2. A leader or party cannot do this on their own. They needs us, the entire taxpaying population, not just cheering on, but materially active, ensuring that the Establishment do not derail the process - people power as a restraint on those who would wish to avoid accountability, and justice...

3. The list of people to be prosecuted is long. Think about it, all the high officials who acted, knowing that there were no weapons of mass destruction, and that the action itself was an illegal act of the War of Aggression. All the pundits, the editords, the media owners who dictated the agenda to support the war, the mercenary companies, the supply companies, the contractors of war.


4, A divided electorate, an ideologically divided population, groups who are being trolled to target each other, to hate each other, to fear each other, in our own communities, the distractions of debt, poverty, property ladders, Brexit, Control and Love Island. This is the situation we have been quite deliberately manipulated into. That manipulation, the fact of it, is a far greater problem than the Austerity Brexit it spewed onto our communities. I digress.


5.Jeremy Corbyn is the only leading politician in the UK whom I am aware of that has said in public that he supports War Crimes investigations, indictments and what flows from the evidence trail.#


6. The entire Establishment will resist this with all their might.

7. How far do you think thay are capable of going to prevent this?

8. Are we strong enough as a population to do this?


9. Am I strong enough to do this?
10. Are you?
11. It needs to be done.



Kindest regards


Corneilius

"Do what you love, it's Your Gift to Universe"

Thank you for reading this blog. All we need to do is be really honest, responsive to the evidence we find,and ready to reassess when new evidence emerges. The rest is easy.

Theresa May, Angela Eagle, Jeremy Corbyn and War Crimes.

1. The Laws prohibiting war were then as they are now. Nothing has changed.

2. The senior Lawyer at the Foreign Office, Elizabeth Wilmshurst quit her role just before the war.

She had been at the Foreign Office since 1974.

She stood down from a career that spanned 30 years.

She was 100% clear that the invasion was a War of Aggression, the supreme war crime, in that it contains all other war crimes.

Her letter of resignation made this clear.

"I cannot in conscience go along with advice - within the Office or to the public or Parliament - which asserts the legitimacy of military action without such a resolution, particularly since an unlawful use of force on such a scale amounts to the crime of aggression; nor can I agree with such action in circumstances which are so detrimental to the international order and the rule of law. "


ALL Cabinet level politicians had access to that advice.

http://www.news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4377605.stm

Claire Short, Robin Cook also resigned. Why?

3. ALL MP's had then, as they have now, a duty of care and of due diligence that is inherent in their roles as MP's, as representatives of their constituencies.

Each and everyone of them had a duty to examine the Laws prohibiting war, and to understand them as they applied at the time.

Failure to do so, along with voting for the War, on such a matter where peoples lives (the troops they were sending, their families) were being put into harms way, and where the outcomes for Iraqi civilians were likely to be horrific, at the expense of the tax payer, was corporate negligence of the highest order, at the very minimum.

They all had plenty of time to exercise due diligence and honour their duty of care.

They chose not to.

Angela Eagle chose not to.

David Cameron chose not to.

Theresa May chose not to.

They are all culpable under the Law, for their inactions as much as their actions.

It is a matter of parliamentary and public record.

They were and are not alone; there are many people in positions of influence in the BBC, Media, Civil Service, Military and Police Command who participated in the rush to war, all of whom had the same duty of care, the same due diligence, given their positions in the system.

4. Jeremy Corbyn is 100% committed to upholding the Law, as is John McDonnell, and as are the vast majority of grass roots electorate.

This is not about personalities, it is about policies, outcomes, accountability and prevention.

We at the grass roots owe it to the dead and living of Iraq, Libya, Yemen and Syria to hold our Government to account for their many crimes, committed using our taxes, using monies borrowed with our future taxes as collateral......

That is the threat the Establishment want to neutralise.

And they will fail. They are failing.

5. Hold steady.

Stay strong.

Stand for justice, truth, honesty and a fair Society.


Kindest regards

Corneilius

"Do what you love, it's Your Gift to Universe"

*If you like this post, if you found the themes resonant, if you agree in part, would you be kind enough to let others know about it? I would really appreciate that. You could drop a comment too, if you felt the urge. Or not. I will moderate contributions, and block any that are abusive. For obvious reasons. Thank you for reading.