theinternationalforecaster.com / By James Corbett / December 1, 2012
If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?
Believe it or not, this question has been on my mind of late. No, I’m not interested in the zen implications or the one-hand-clapping nature of the old riddle. I’m preoccupied with a slightly more practical question: If Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld are convicted of war crimes in Kuala Lumpur and no media are there to report on it, does it have an effect?
Although not many people know it, this is precisely what happened earlier this year. Back in May a war crimes tribunal in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, convicted Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and several other Bush administration insiders (including former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and White House legal advisor John Yoo) of war crimes, including torture. The conviction was the result of a week-long tribunal that heard testimony from Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib detainees. Although it was the first conviction of its kind anywhere in the world and a significant milestone in the quest to achieve justice for the outrageous actions of the US and its allies in the bogus war on terror, the trial and conviction was met by a deafening silence by the talking heads in the corporate media.
Surprise, surprise.
Although there was a headline here and there about the conviction, to the extent that it was addressed at all it was generally pooh-poohed as not being “officially” sanctioned by the Malaysian court system, and thus not worthy of consideration. This despite the fact that the trial included a prosecution and a defense council, took witness statements and testimony, was overseen by a five-member commission of scholars and statesman from around the world, was modeled on the Nuremberg Charter, and referred its conviction to the International Criminal Court and the United Nations Security Council. As the delegation that initiated United Nations General Assembly resolution 95 (I) in 1946 affirming the principles of the Nuremberg Tribunal, no one would seriously argue that the US is itself not bound by those principles, which clearly state: “Leaders, organizers, instigators and accomplices participating in the formulation or execution of a common plan or conspiracy to commit war crimes are responsible for all acts performed by any person in execution of such a plan.”
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