THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VIII, Issue # 78, May 12, 2006
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
I WAS AN ICELANDIC "WAR CRIMINAL"
By Dr. Michael Rubin
MULTILATERALISM, UNILATERALISM, ANTIWAR ACTIVISM, & WAR CRIMES: THE GROWING TENDENCY IN
PACIFIST, LEFTIST, & INTERNATIONALIST CIRCLES TO DEMONIZE & CRIMINALIZE TAKING THE OPPOSING SIDE IN DEBATE
OVER POLICY ISSUES IN SUCH AREAS AS FOREIGN AFFAIRS, INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, WAR & PEACE, NATIONAL &
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY, & MILITARY DEFENSE -- MAKING IT A WAR CRIME TO PLACE THE VITAL INTERESTS OF ONE'S
NATION ABOVE THE OPINIONS, BIASES, & IDEOLOGIES OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS THAT SELDOM LIVE UP TO
THE NOBEL GOALS OF THEIR FOUNDING CHARTERS -- THE FOOLHARDINESS & DANGER OF PROCEEDING ON THE
ASSUMPTION THAT INTERNATIONAL BODIES LIKE THE UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION & THE
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT WILL BE NEUTRAL OR OPERATE IN THE CAUSE OF JUSTICE
FULL STORY:
I looked forward to returning to Iceland. It had been seven years since I last lectured there, and I remembered it as a beautiful,
rugged country, great for hiking and swimming. I was scheduled to deliver four lectures on Iran, Iraq, and transformative
diplomacy at the Universities of Iceland and Reykjavik, and at the U.S. Naval Air Station in Keflavik.
This trip would not be so smooth. Word of trouble began to percolate in the morning of the first lecture. A local antiwar
activist was demanding my arrest as a war criminal. My crimes were multifold: Writing an article blaming Saddam Hussein —
not United Nations sanctions — for Iraqi deaths, and then advocating for Iraqi liberation. This made me responsible for
"war-crimes and violating international law by indirectly causing the invasion of Iraq." Like thousands of others, I had also
worked at the Pentagon and volunteered for duty in Iraq. At each university lecture, protesters worked to disrupt my speech.
Some were young students, and others were older retirees, members of a group calling itself "The Movement for Active
Democracy." I was even accused of complicity in a cover-up of the 9/11 attacks. Among my crimes, the protesters pointed
out, "[Rubin] is a Jew and a big supporter of Israel." Guilty as charged. I do not apologize for my religion, and I am also a big
supporter of India, Turkey, Taiwan, Mali, and other democracies. Iceland is a small country. Rather than ignore the incidents,
both newspapers and television reported it. I was already in Finland when I got an e-mail informing me that the police
commissioner dismissed the lawsuit.
The incident would be laughable if it did not foreshadow a growing phenomenon seeking to criminalize debate that is
sweeping progressive, libertarian, and antiwar groups at home and abroad. Blogger Juan Cole, for example, a popular
anti-Bush pundit, demanded the FBI investigate how Walid Phares "became the ‘terrorism analyst' at MSNBC." On June 1,
2004, blogger Laura Rozen lamented that someone she disagreed with was not the subject of an FBI investigation. On
September 20, 2004, libertarian Justin Raimondo urged the FBI to "indict the Neocon War Party for treason." Perhaps
hyperbole, but it is dangerous to smear political opponents with death-penalty offenses.
Within the U.S. national government, there is a similar trend toward criminalizing interagency debate. In 2003, a principal
deputy assistant secretary of State launched an investigation of another State Department employee for leaking an
unclassified document to the Pentagon. After a Chalabi leak, one State Department official with whom I sparred in
interagency meetings told law-enforcement officials and journalists that I was responsible, a silly assertion given that I was
not in Iraq at the time, seldom had contact with Chalabi while I was there, and did not have access to the material allegedly
leaked (not to mention that the charges exist more in the realm of unnamed intelligence sources than in reality). Similar cases
are a dime a dozen. Within the U.S. political debate, constitutional guarantees make such hyperbole more immature and
nuisance than dangerous, but the Iceland incident is cause for concern.
Many U.S. diplomats — including those appointed to prominent portfolios by President Bush — advocate privately for U.S.
inclusion in the International Criminal Court (ICC). Recently, the White House has reconsidered its position. Just three days
before the Icelandic peace activists filed suit against me, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she would like to soften
the U.S. position toward the International Criminal Court. The idea that international bodies will be neutral or operate in the
cause of justice is foolhardy and dangerous. On April 15, 2002, Austria, Belgium, France, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden
endorsed a UN Human Rights Commission resolution legitimizing suicide bombing as a legitimate form of resistance.
Human rights groups have condemned Israel's security fence, while ignoring previous construction of anti-terrorism barriers
on disputed land not only by India, Saudi Arabia and Morocco, but also by the United Nations itself. The same logic of
indirect responsibility used to condemn former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as a war criminal could just as easily apply
— with all due respect to Jonathan Swift — to such human rights divas as former Irish President and UN Human Rights
Commissioner Mary Robinson.
International organizations seldom live up to the noble goals of their founding charters, and many European, let alone Middle
Eastern and Central Asian, politicians are venal. In September, 2004, Finnish President Tarja Halonen declared the Iraq war
illegal. Halonen, like many of her European peers, conflates personal with legal opinion and acts as judge and jury when
deciding questions of international law. Such capriciousness is dangerous. If European states accept the idea of indirect
responsibility, it is not a far leap to fear that the calls for criminalization of debate which exist in progressive circles could
become mainstream. Write an unpopular legal opinion regarding torture? War crime. Peacekeepers in Afghanistan transfer
detainees to the host government? War crime. Advocate for a war against terrorism or emphasize democratization in foreign
policy? War crime.
Europeans may preach multilateralism and condemn unilateralism. But, increasingly, they seek multilateralism in action, but
unilateralism in thought. True Liberals and Conservatives should band together to defend free speech. Intellectuals should
understand that McCarthyism is government censorship, not criticism of their work or labels they dislike. Professors should
not cry wolf.
Still, on an international level, Rice may want to smooth ruffled feathers. Career State Department officers may tell her it's the
right thing to do; they have immunity. Offered a choice between mitigating opposition to the International Criminal Court or
keeping debate free, the U.S. decision should be clear. Let's just hope Rice takes the right, rather than the diplomatic, option;
then again, if she doesn't, her retirement could be in an Icelandic prison.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
The United Nations & Its Agencies
Europe, Europeans, & American Foreign Policy
The Middle East & the Problem of Iraq
Page Two
Page One
The Problem of Rogue States:
Iraq as a Case History
National Strategy for Victory in Iraq
War & Peace in the Real World
Page Two
Page One
Military Defense & National Security
U.S. National Security Strategy
Dr. Michael Rubin, a Ph.D. in History (Yale University) and a specialist in Middle Eastern politics, Islamic culture and Islamist
ideology, is Editor of the Middle East Quarterly and a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public
Policy Research. Dr Rubin is author of Into the Shadows: Radical Vigilantes in Khatami's Iran (Washington Institute
for Near East Policy, 2001) and is co-author, with Dr. Patrick Clawson, of Eternal Iran: Continuity and Chaos (Palgrave
Macmillan, 2005). Dr. Rubin served as political advisor to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad (2003-2004); staff
advisor on Iran and Iraq in the Office of the U.S. Secretary of Defense (2002-2004); visiting lecturer in the Departments of
History and International Relations at Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2001-2002); visiting lecturer at the Universities of
Sulaymani, Salahuddin, and Duhok in Iraqi Kurdistan (2000-2001); Soref Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East
Policy (1999-2000); and visiting lecturer in the Department of History at Yale University (1999-2000). He has been a fellow at
the Council of Foreign Relations, the Leonard Davis Institute at Hebrew University, and the Carnegie Council on Ethics and
International Affairs.
The foregoing article by Dr. Michael Rubin was originally published in National Review Online, May 12, 2006, and can
be found on the Internet website maintained by the Middle East Forum.
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
May 12, 2006
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