This is a work in progress. Please do not disturb.
{{RFCpoliccy| section=RfC Shitfights !! reason=how do we find a way to prevent politicised edits turning nasty? !! time= 04:17, 1 August 2008 (UTC) }} This is really a request for comment on three things:
- The addition by Matilda of a paragraph describing a submission to the ICC alleging that John Howard has committed war crimes.
- Matilda's actions in restoring the material when it was repeatedly removed quoting WP:BLP concerns.
- The war crimes that break out here and on other Australian political discussion pages over trivia.
Background edit
On 14 June 2008 a group of seminal thinkers filed a brief with the ICC, alleging that John Howard, then Australian Prime Minister, had committed war crimes by bombing cities in Iraq in 2003.
The ICC operates to prosecute the perpetrators of extremely serious crimes. Its jurisdiction is limited, being intended as a court of last resort, unable to proceed where
- (a) The case is being investigated or prosecuted by a State which has jurisdiction over it, unless the State is unwilling or unable genuinely to carry out the investigation or prosecution;
- (b) The case has been investigated by a State which has jurisdiction over it and the State has decided not to prosecute the person concerned, unless the decision resulted from the unwillingness or inability of the State genuinely to prosecute;
If there is any criminal action in Australian courts involving John Howard charged with war crimes, it has not yet worked through to completion in the High Court, so it is difficult to see how the ICC could have jurisdiction at this time.
Media coverage of this incident was minor, mostly limited to republishing the group's press release, or summarising it. Less than a thousand words over several media outlets, no record of any follow-up. The group's press release was dated 2 June 2008, and their submission to the ICC was made on 14 June 2008 (according to their colourful site), so there is no actual reliable source of the submission, merely that the submission was being prepared.
As the group's own website states, "WE AWAIT THE ICC PROSECUTOR’S ANALYS AND REPLY". Indeed.