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Old 11-11-2007, 01:28 AM   #39
CuittisIL

Join Date
Nov 2005
Posts
726
Senior Member
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That raises an interesting question of jurisdiction and what it means for something to be "illegal".

In the US its illegal to sell marijuana, but in some nations it's not. Yet I don't think we'd say that the citizens of those nations are breaking US law when they sell marijuana to one another in their own country.
If the US hasn't signed up to submit itself to the legal authority of the ICC, I don't think it makes any sense to talk about them doing something "illegal", since that implies that are part of that legal system.
A nation's acts might be imperialistic, aggressive, dangerous and exploitive (and perhaps rightly opposed for those reasons)...but "illegal" seems a bit of a stretch. It requires an explanation of which legal code is being broken and why the given jurisdiction should extend to the nation in question. IMO, the term "international law", and the legal terminology associated with it, implies a connection with national laws which is tentative at best.
Okay, that's an interesting question.

US CODE: Title 18,2441 relates to War crimes, including those committed by US armed forces personnel or US citizens in any country. It appears to be based on the Hague Convention. I have not read it fully to check its applicability to the case at hand, but it appears from a quick browse of the document that it is of relevance to your question.

US CODE: Title 18,2441. War crimes

Tethys
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