International Law: July 2004 Archives

The "Good War" story of World War II is a Big Lie, used today by the likes of George W. Bush and John F. Kerry to create a mind set in which America's rulers are the good guys who, despite all of their faults and foibles, are saving the world from the really really bad guys.

FDR told Americans that the war was about fighting fascism and tyranny. But FDR lied about his real war objectives, just as Hitler lied to the Germans and Japanese militarists lied to the Japanese people to get them to fight the bloodiest war in history.

"Why suspend the habeas corpus in insurrections and rebellions?
Examine the history of England. See how few of the cases of the
suspension of the habeas corpus law have been worthy of that
suspension. They have been either real treasons, wherein the parties
might as well have been charged at once, or sham plots, where it was
shameful they should ever have been suspected. Yet for the few cases
wherein the suspension of the habeas corpus has done real good, that
operation is now become habitual and the minds of the nation almost
prepared to live under its constant suspension."

-- Thomas Jefferson
(1743-1826), US Founding Father, drafted the Declaration of Independence,
3rd US President
Source: letter to James Madison, 1788

Definition of 'habeas corpus':
A writ having for its object to bring a party before a court or judge;
especially, one to inquire into the cause of a person's imprisonment or
detention by another, with the view to protect the right to personal
liberty.

BBC News, June 30th

Black Africans say they are being driven from their homes in Darfur
Human rights campaigners accuse Sudan's pro-government Arab militia of carrying out genocide against black African residents of the Darfur region.
They are accused of forcing some one million people from their homes and killing at least 10,000. Many thousands more are at risk of starving due to a lack of food in the camps where they have fled.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has refused to use the term genocide, which would carry a legal obligation to act.