A single death is a tragedy. A million deaths is something the UN can live with...

UNITED NATIONS Oct 22, 2004 — The United Nations won't train judges or prosecutors for the Iraqi tribunal that will try members of Saddam Hussein's regime because it has no mandate and doesn't work with courts that can impose the death penalty, a U.N. associate spokesman said Friday.

"The Secretary-General (Kofi Annan) recently stated that United Nations officials should not be directly involved in lending assistance to any court or tribunal that is empowered to impose the death penalty," Stephane Dujarric said at a news conference.

"We have no specific mandate for this," he said. "In addition … we have serious doubts regarding the capability of the Iraqi Special Tribunal to meet the relevant international standards."...

Those are important standards! There's the Calmly Watching Genocide standard. The Wink at Nuclear Proliferation standard. The Israel Is To Blame For All Problems standard. The Palestinians Get a Pass On Mass Murder standard....

Most importantly, the NGO Comfortable Lifestyle standard always comes first.

The Iraqi courts are pariahs because they can impose the death penalty. So what did the UN call Saddam Hussein, who shoveled hundreds of thousands of people into mass graves? A Member.

(Thanks to Winds of Change)

Posted by John Weidner at October 24, 2004 05:34 PM | TrackBack