michaelr, I don't think that sort of local juridiction strategy would be effective. It must come from a national or internation jurisdiction, and the war crimes charged, in order for any prosecution to be effective.

The martyrdom rationalization sounds like something Pelosi and Reid would cook up to defend Bush/Cheney and the US Congress' rush to war.

You could argue we shouldn't have had the Nuremburg trials for the same reason. Or the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. Or the World Court shouldn't have prosecuted Milosevic because it would make him a martyr.

That just doesn't make sense. Criminals need to be brought to justice, or we can't maintain even the thinnest of veneers of civilization.

While I believe that capital punishment for regular citizen criminals should be forever outlawed, I'm beginning to think that capital punishment for political leaders, tried by the World Court, should be implemented. I think they consider themselves and THEIR lives far more precious than the rest of us, so for them it may well serve as a deterrent. At least until we can reign in the world's tyrants through a global judicial system with the genuine power to end despotic rulers reigns of terror, anyway.

I would definitely favor a transitional use of capital punishment for political leaders to get us to that phase of growth beyond our current reign of terror by political leaders around the world. And I do believe in starting at home in my own backyard, in that regard.