Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu on Sept. 1 called in an op-ed in The Observer for former US president George W. Bush and former UK prime minister Tony Blair to stand trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for their roles in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Tutu argues that:
The immorality of the United States and Great Britain’s decision to invade Iraq in 2003, premised on the lie that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, has destabilised and polarised the world to a greater extent than any other conflict in history. Instead of recognising that the world we lived in, with increasingly sophisticated communications, transportations and weapons systems necessitated sophisticated leadership that would bring the global family together, the then-leaders of the US and UK fabricated the grounds to behave like playground bullies and drive us further apart.
The ICC has jurisdiction to hear cases of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, but it does not currently have the power to prosecute crimes of aggression.
From Jurist, Sept. 2. Used with permission.
Such calls have been raised before.
