In the article in the Wednesday, May 18 edition of the Wall Street Journal, “Oil Chief Leaves Libya As Regime Is Targeted”, Shokri Ghanem is pictured as fleeing Libya to escape the prosecution of the International Criminal Court — a creation of the hypocrisy of the twentieth century.

George Joffe, a Libya specialist at Cambridge University, said that Ghanem’s flight is linked to the prosecutor’s announcement that he intended to prosecute Gaddafi, Gaddafi”s sons, and Gaddafi’s brother-in-law for “crimes against humanity”.

Trials for war crimes have become all too common since the aftermath of World War I. But who is to put on trial these strong men and dictators? Judges from Western Europe or the United States? Such Western men are from a different culture and religion. They don’t think the same way as someone born and raised in Libya.

Not that I’m defending Gaddafi, who was behind the Lockerbie bombing. But who are we to stand in judgement, we who dropped the atomic bomb twice on Japan, beginning the atomic age? Think again! History is basically amoral. So are individual countries. They cannot be judged like individuals. It has been so since the beginning time and will be true for all time. Just think, in the U.S. we make our own president immune from prosecution for his decisions when in office. The last thing we need is a double standard for Libya.

Picture

Gaddafi

Comments are closed.