"Cluster bombs called 'war crime'"

Mike Yared wrote:

: Why did the lawyers not sue Saddam Hussein first? Or the late Soviet leaders
: for the the Soviet Union's 1956 Invasion of Hungary? the 1968 Invasion of
: Czechoslovakia; and the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan? Will the late Yuri
: Andropov and Leonid Brezhnev be labeled as war criminals in historical
: terms?

(1) That leaders of state run the risk of having to justify themselves
in court is the consequence of the well-functioning of democracy
and the rule of law. To argue that it should not happen because
dictators do not have to justify themselves, amounts to a plea in
favour of totalitarianism -- the only form of government which is
compatible with unaccountable government.

(2) I have no doubt that in historical terms, Brezhnev and Andropov
will be judged harshly. But if the unpunished crimes of some could
serve as a sufficient excuse for the misdemeanours of others, the
courts of justice would be doomed to almost complete inactivity.

Emmanuel Gustin