Dear Friends:
Perhaps some
of the tears have dried and people can begin to think rationally about the
horrors of the past week and what we can do to prevent the recurrence of such
tragedies. As one who has witnessed
such atrocities and who has looked into the unrepentant eyes of mass killers,
please allow me to share some thoughts that I hope may help move us toward a
less violent world where all may live in peace and human dignity. The basic thrust of my thinking is that
we should try to rely more on law than war.
Hijacking passenger planes
and deliberately and intentionally smashing them into large buildings, thereby
causing the death of thousands of innocent civilians is clearly a crime against
humanity. With origins going back
to antiquity, the judicial punishment of such crimes at the Nuremberg trials
after the Second World War was affirmed by the United Nations and in many courts
since that time. The United States
played a leading role in establishing that as a universally binding legal
principle.
Any person, without regard to nationality or the capacity in
which he acted, is deemed to have committed the crime if he was a principle or
accessory, took a consenting part therein or was connected with any organization
or group connected with the commission of the crime. Under common principle of criminal law,
anyone who aids or abets a crime, before or after its commission, thereby
becomes an accessory to the crime and is liable to punishment.
The
United States should draw up an indictment against Osama Bin Laden and all of
the terrorist groups known to the FBI, alleging the commission of crimes against
humanity, details of which should be specified.
United Nations Security
Council Resolution 1368 of 12 September 2001 called upon all States urgently to
bring to justice the perpetrators and organizers of these terrorist attacks and
stressed that those responsible for aiding or harboring the perpetrators would
be held accountable. The US
indictments should be submitted to the governments of Afghanistan, Sudan,
Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, Libya, and any other nations where such terrorist groups
may be operating. The US should
request that all persons believed to be connected with the crimes should be held
hold for interrogation by US officials.
A 10-day time limit should be adequate
The Security Council,
acting pursuant to its UN Charter authority, should be called upon to create an
international military force (as envisaged by the Charter) to help carry out the
SC mandate. The force can be
composed of volunteers from NATO or other nations, similar to the force used in
the Gulf War.
Should, as expected, Afghanistan refuse or fail to
cooperate, the United States should withdraw its recognition of the government
in power and recognize the opposition groups as the legitimate government. Economic and military aid should be
provided to the opposition to help them gain power over their country. The US can also use economic sanctions
as a persuasive carrot and stick to obtain cooperation from all nations.
In the unfortunate absence of any permanent international criminal
court, the Security Council, following its own precedents, can quickly set up an
ad hoc international criminal tribunal to try the accused - as was done with US
support - for the crimes against humanity committed in Yugoslavia and
Rwanda. The trials should be
absolutely fair. I would have no
objection to fair trials in the US, but the world would doubt that it would be
possible under the prevailing circumstances. If found guilty, the defendants
could be incarcerated in the US - and we could throw away the key!
I
have experienced the horrors of war and I cannot bear to see the destruction and
the pained eyes of those digging in the ruins or the helpless relatives refusing
to accept what they know is now inevitable. I have flashbacks of riding over the
ruins of St. Lo in Normandy where the sky was black with American bombers and
the earth rocked as a French city was reduced to rubble. I smell the smoke of Wurzburg burning
when we dropped incendiary bombs that burned every house to the ground, leaving
only ghostly walls standing. I
recall the emaciated corpses at Buchenwald and Mauthausen and a host of other
charnel houses. And I remember
Berlin when the Russians got through with it. I see my remorseless Nuremberg
defendants who killed over a million people, including the murder of 33,771
innocent men woman and children at Babi Yar on Sept. 29 and 30, 1941 - the
Jewish High Holy Days. All this may
help explain the trauma that drives me to try to prevent war.
We
must try to understand the causes of the violence and try to diminish the
hatreds that encourage people to kill or be killed for their particular
cause. This requires new thinking,
a willingness to compromise, compassion and tolerance, a greater respect for the
goals set down in the UN Charter and infinite patience. I am now approaching 82 and I have not
given up hope. To those of all
faiths, I extend my best wishes for peace and happiness.
Sincerely,
Ben Ferencz