Guy Lesser's footnoted Harper's article on the ICTY -- the 'International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991' (Whew!) -- is subtitled "What the US Could Learn from the Milosevic Trial," but I bet this is an editor's creation, since Lesser draws no lessons for the US from his account of the ICTY. He says (in a footnote, of course) that it will cost $1.5 billion over 18 years to try 100 defendants before the ICTY. The ICTY has a staff of 1,300. Is this worth the money, or, more precisely, is this the best way for the UN to spend $1.5 billion? It's interesting that Lesser doesn't offer any defense to the criticism (which he notes) that the ICTY trials take too long. I question the (apparent) premise of the whole enterprise that the existence of IHL courts will deter future war crimes. It's just an unlikely idea. I heard Pat Wald (one of the ICTY judges) speak at the DC Circuit Judicial Conference in '02, and she said she was struck by how many of the lawyers from countries other than the US were multilingual, while the US lawyers spoke only -- English.
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