IRAQ: CHRONICLE OF A TRIAL FORETOLD

Iraq: Chronicle of a Trial foretold

Iraq: Chronicle of a Trial foretold

Introduction

This paper provides an analysis of a chapter titled, “Iraq: Chronicle of a Trial foretold”. This chapter is included in the chapter titled, “Global Justice: The Politics of War Crimes Trials”, written by Moghalu, K.C.

This chapter highlights the important events of Iraq War after the Saddamese era. The author in this particular chapter calls for intervention and war crimes trials for the massacres and rapes in Sudan's Darfur region have been loud and clear, and the United States remains fiercely opposed to the permanent International Criminal Court.

Author's Hypothesis

In his view, the unresolved tension between 'cosmopolitanism' (universalist notions of justice) and 'concrete legality' (the actual international state hierarchy) has cast global justice into a crisis of legitimacy.

Summary and Discussion on the Book

Are war crimes trials impartial, apolitical forums? Has international justice for war crimes become an entrenched aspect of globalization? In Global Justice, Moghalu examines the phenomenon of war crimes trials from an unusual, political perspective--that of an "anarchical" international society. He argues that, contrary to conventional wisdom, war crimes trials are neither motivated nor influenced solely by abstract notions of justice. Instead, war crimes trials are the product of the interplay of political forces that have led to an inevitable clash between globalization and sovereignty on the sensitive question of who should judge war criminals (Moghalu, 51).

The author has also provided in this chapter, a rich account of attempts made to enforce the contested doctrine of "universal jurisdiction," Moghalu renders a compelling tour de force of one of the most controversial subjects in world politics. He argues that, necessary though it was, international justice has run into a crisis of legitimacy. While international trials will remain a policy option, local or regional responses ...