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- NEW YORK (Reuters)
- A group of U.S. law professors opposed to a possible war on Iraq warned
U.S. President George W. Bush on Friday that he and senior government officials
could be prosecuted for war crimes if military tactics violated international
humanitarian law.
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- "Our primary concern ... is the large number of
civilian casualties that may result should U.S. and coalition forces fail
to comply with international humanitarian law in using force against Iraq,"
the group, led by the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights,
said in a letter to Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
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- The group cited the particular need for U.S. and coalition
forces to abide by humanitarian law requiring warring parties to distinguish
between military and civilian areas, use only the level of force that is
militarily necessary and to use weaponry that is proportionate to what
is being targeted.
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- The letter, which had more than 100 signatories, said
the rules had been broken in other recent wars.
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- It said air strikes on populated cities, carpet bombing
and the use of fuel-air explosives were examples of inappropriate military
action taken during the 1991 Gulf War, the 1999 Kosovo campaign and the
2001 Afghan conflict that led to civilian casualties and might be used
again in Iraq.
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- The letter to Bush and Rumsfeld coincided with similar
notes sent this week to British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Canadian
Prime Minister Jean Chretien by lawyers in those countries.
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- Ironically, Bush on Wednesday advised Iraqi officers
and soldiers to disobey any orders to use weapons of mass destruction in
the event of a conflict. "If you choose to do so, when Iraq is liberated,
you will be treated, tried and persecuted as a war criminal," he said.
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- On Sunday, Rumsfeld said he would favor granting Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein and senior Iraqi leaders immunity from possible
war crimes prosecution if it would clear the way for their exile and avoid
a war.
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- INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT
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- Government officials in Britain and Canada could theoretically
be investigated by the new International Criminal Court in The Hague if
it was determined that international laws had been broken in war. The United
States has refused to cooperate with the court and has withdrawn its signature
from the treaty establishing it.
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- The letter to Blair, dated Jan. 22, from Public Interest
Lawyers said that if Britain's actions in Iraq were deemed possible war
crimes, "we, and others, will take steps to ensure that you, and other
leaders of the U.K. government are held accountable."
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- The Canadian group, Lawyers Against the War, said in
its letter dated Jan. 20, that it was putting Chretien's government on
notice that without explicit U.N. Security Council approval for a war on
Iraq, "we will pursue all responsible government officials on charges
of murder and crimes against humanity in both the Canadian and the international
criminal courts."
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- One of the leading signatories to the letter to Bush
said although Washington was not a party to the ICC, U.S. officials could
still be prosecuted under the Geneva Convention.
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- "War crimes under that convention can be prosecuted
wherever the perpetrators are found," said Michael Ratner, president
of the Center for Constitutional Rights.
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- He said the situation could be likened to the attempt
by a Spanish magistrate to prosecute former Chilean military dictator Augusto
Pinochet in 1996 for human rights violations during his rule.
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