Overview

"The trial of Slobodan Milosevic has raised the prospect of many former political leaders being tried for crimes against humanity. War crimes tribunals and the international criminal courts are supposedly independent mechanisms through which we can administer international justice, and through which tyrants and errant regimes can be brought to account. But is it really that simple? For example, although Milosevic wound up on trial at The Hague, other attempts at war crimes prosecutions -- notably Pinochet and Sharon -- face insurmountable obstacles. Despite the hopes raised about ""an end to impunity"", the United States is currently exempting itself entirely from the jurisdiction of the new International Criminal Court. This new book by renowned scholar Michael Mandel offers the first truly critical account of the war crimes movement. Mandel argues that this movement is not actually about ending war crimes, or impunity for war crimes, but about selectively punishing ""the usual suspects"". as part of the imperial strategy of the great powers -- primarily the United States. Examining issues chapter-by-chapter, Mandel explores the moral and legal debates over the recent wars in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq, supposed exercises in ""humanitarian intervention"" and ""self-defence."" He analyses the role the war crimes movement has played in these wars, variously promoting them or not stopping them, despite their immorality and illegality. Mandel takes a hard look at the development of the International Criminal Court and its likely destiny. He gives special attention to recent tribunals -- like the one trying Milosevic -- and the way they have been used to prosecute America's enemies. He shows how these tribunals shield America and its allies from responsibility for what is termed ""collateral damage,"" but what is in reality murder on a vast scale."

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9780745321523

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Reviews

An exciting, original, and completely convincing demonstration that the US wars against Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq, and the institutional apparatus that has given them legal support, such as the Yugoslavia Tribunal and UN, have been a travesty of law and are returning the world to the law of the jungle. This book is essential reading for anybody who wants to understand how the law really works in international affairs, and it throws a great deal of light on those international affairs themselves. -- Edward S. Herman This closely reasoned and carefully documented study is sad and grim, and necessary. Unless its lessons are heeded by citizens of the rich and powerful states, the fate of the world will be left to the whim of those with the guns and the faith to enforce their will. The prospects are not attractive. -- Noam Chomsky

Michael Mandel is terrific... offer him a lot of space because he has a lot to say Ed Herman

Author Information

Michael Mandel is Professor of Law at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Toronto, Canada. He frequently appears as a commentator on radio and television and in op-ed pages in Canada and throughout the world. In 1999 he led an international effort to have NATO leaders prosecuted for war crimes committed in Kosovo. He is currently co-Chair of Lawyers Against the War (Canada), formed in 2001 to oppose America's War on Terrorism. He is a contributor to Beyond September 11: An Anthology of Dissent, edited by Phil Scraton (Pluto Press, 2002).

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