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Criminals of war

I like Belgium. The people are nice, the beer is terrific and, for history buffs, there is the battlefield site of Waterloo where Napoleon Bonaparte's brilliant career came to a rather sudden and inglorious end.

However, Brussels, the capital of said country, does happen to suffer from being the centre of European politics and is infested with quazillions of poiliticians, bureaucrats and other assorted hangers-on.

Belgium's own ambitious parliament - perhaps buoyed by its self-importance, or a regular diet of magic truffles - had taken it upon itself to allow non-Belgians to be tried for warcrimes in its courts.

That could be the slaughtering of innocent civilians in Bosnia, invading other nations, or just flouting some of the ridiculously PC laws that hamstring Europeans.

It is aimed at letting bullies, mass murderers and tyrants know that at some stage they will be tried for their crimes against humanity.

One of the key world leaders to have a case brought against was Israel's Girly-Names Sharon for his alleged warcrimes in invading Lebanon back in 1982, which led to the massacre of civilians at a Palestinian refugee camp.

The Israelis didn't have anything to do with it - it was committed by their allies - but the argument from the Palestinians who brought the warcrimes action was that if Israel hadn't invaded then the killings wouldn't have happened.

Under the same legislation, George Bush senior, Dubya's dad, could also have been dragged into court to answer for his actions - the second Gulf War in 1991 - because he ordered the conflict.

Anyway, Belgium has copped a fair bit of flak from its 'allies' over the law - which just so happens to be a fairly good one in my view - and so now is about to limit it. Soon only people who have lived in Belgium for three years will be able to bring war criminals before its judiciary.

Commentators say it is because of said flak that the Belgians are watering down the law, however, think a little bit more about it.

I reckon the Belgians have looked to when the war against Iraq finishes and have seen the possibility of old Soddy Boy Hussein being tried for warcrimes.

Just imagine the faeces that will fly in those little courtroom dramas - it will make Kramer vs Kramer look like a marriage break-up. And don't forget about the possibility of massive unrest, violence and terrorism that will centre on Brussels if Hussein's lads want to rescue him!

Anyway, take one more step down the road of imagination and move slightly to the left.

Think on the political fallout that would come Belgium's way if some clever clogs brought George Dubya Bush up on crimes against humanity charges for his going into Iraq without UN backing.

Hmmmmmmmm. Big poo-poo time.

Grumpy Old Coot has a warped view of life, check him out

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