Lessons of Nuremberg, 60 years on

[NNN0LHI]

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=2265322005

<snip>Nuremberg was the first time that war crimes were tried before an international tribunal. It was clear from Jackson's approach that the Americans, in particular, hoped it would serve as a model for a future international justice system with a permanent criminal court to handle cases of genocide and crimes against humanity.

"Ironically, in the years that followed, the United States became the biggest force of resistance to the establishment of the International Criminal Court in The Hague," Uwe Wesel, a professor emeritus in civil law and the history of law at Berlin's Free University, said.

"At the time of the Nuremberg trials, the United Nations set up an international law commission, but this commission has had to deal with repeated stumbling blocks.

"The Cold War came, and the United States started to think twice about participating, because of the fear that Americans could also be tried for war crimes. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the US no longer had to fear being drawn into a war with the Soviet Union, they continued to hesitate."