The Libyan dictator is a prime example. The West coddled even as he brutalized and supressed his own people for nearly four decades. Even as he openly supported global terrorism and downed Pan Am 103.
As if to say Gaddafi’s past crimes weren’t crimes against against humanity, the ICC warrant seems to focus only on the crimes committed during recent anti-regime protests.
Now we’re told that one of Gaddafi’s crimes is “persecuting an identifiable group”. The phrase is central to the definition of crimes against humanity.
The problem is: the west’s indispensable allies routinely similar crimes with impunity. Israel’s disproportionate force in the Palestinian territories is one example. Russia’s “war on terror” in Chechnya is another. China has repressed Tibet for ages.
But Syria is the most comparable example. Dictator Bashar Assad’s repression of an armed people shames Gaddafi’s brutality.
Those in the West who coddle dictators when they brutalize their own people are culpable. They should also face prosecution. Only then can we take the International Criminal Court seriously.
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