Pockets of Resistance

Well our latest foray in military meddling in the Middle East is coming to a close. Even if, as it looks, the Gaddafi loyalists have fallen back to make a last stand in Tripoli this is the end game; no resupply of food or weapons, it's now just a matter of time. Everyone's favourite comedy dictator is probably pacing around his bunker, throwing coloured pencils at a map of Tripoli and ranting at his remaining generals "Downfall" style.

Now as we are all aware Gaddafi is as mad a box of frogs and may really believe all of Libya loves him and will rise and fight to the bitter end but I don't think he's that batshit crazy. So why didn't he flee when it was obvious that he'd lost? Well maybe the fact that the International Criminal Court have already said they would like a quiet chat with him over tea and ontbijtkoeken in The Hague with regard to, you know, war crimes and stuff might have had more than a part to play.

Back in the day when the gig was up your average dictator went round to the central bank, hoovered up everything in transferable assets and flew the presidential plane to some equally totalitarian state and proceeded to live a quiet life with just the occasional interviewer from "Time" magazine to break the monotony. Sure not very comforting to the relatives of said dictator's victims but it did tend to mean that revolutions when they happened were relatively short.

The trouble I think with these courts is that they don't really seem to work. They don't act as a deterrent as the people committing war crimes don't every think they'll have to stand trial because, well, they're going to win the war of course. It also smacks of "victor's justice" - if perhaps a certain Mr Blair were to stand trial for engaging in a war of aggression on a false pretext then the courts might seem to be at least fair and impartial. Finally if anything they maybe are costing lives, prolonging conflicts as leaders who are shoe-ins for a few weeks of stand-up freeform ranting in a perspex box somewhere in Holland, decide they have nothing to lose so might as well hang on to the last bullet.

I can see why there's a desire for a war trials court, it's a noble ideal, but I can't help think that is this case like many other noble ideals done out of the finest motives it's just making things worse