Voltage wrote:Twisted_Logic wrote:Serena wrote:I would expect nothing less from you Voltage.
Voltages denies that crimes ever took place in Somaliland. He sees the entire massacre as a law and order situation.
But for the rest of us, this case shows the acute hypocrisy and bigotry of the Somali people, that while they go after certain criminals, they are willing to trivialize and apologize for other equally heinous criminals simply because they happen to share clan name with them.
I am never one to be fan of any African military and Somalia is no different but there is a clear distinction between the LEGITIMACY of Government action and the circumstances surrounding the military strategy.
If it is the latter, I am open to unearthing and prosecuting any one person or people who blood on their hands in a holistic justice not one in which one guy is president because he serves the interest of the victims and others are hounded.
If however the discussion concerns the former in which case the legitimacy of the Somali government to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the nation against foreign-supplied rebels comes under attack, which is where you are coming from, I will be the first to defend the legitimacy of the government.
Iraq itself was illegal, but where were Bush and Cheney responsible for Abu Ghraib? This is what the civilized world understands. You are accountable for what you do with your hands.
Also listen to Samatar's lawyer about why that law about foreign leaders exists in the U.S; because certain actions can be committed under legitimate government campaigns that would make people at the time seem liable for things they are not.
The anti-MSB regime resistances were influenced by many factors. A reaction against tyranny, nepotism, corruption, injustice and social degeneration were more of a factor than a plan to curve a new country in Somalia and in any case, the resistance wasn’t limited to Somaliland but was replicated throughout many regions of our country. So the motifs were diverse much like the case against the regime. It is dishonest to reduce the war against the people of Somaliland in simple terms such as “sovereignty” or “territorial integrity.” Of course, MSB’s entire system rested upon a violation of the Somali Constitution since he came to power by the gun and dismissed the National Assembly.
However, and more importantly, tens of thousands of innocent Somalis lost their lives at the hands of the MSB regime in Northern Somalia and hundreds of thousands of people were misplaced. Cities, towns and villages were carpet-bombed on regular basis to force the people to submission. Similar feats of injustice and terror were repeated in Mudug and Hiiraan. The brutality of the regime and the crimes committed on its behalf is not my point since overwhelming majority of the Somali people and the world view the calamitous events in Somalia in the 1980s as a crime against humanity. My main argument is that it is wrong to draw any similarities to what occurred in Abu Ghuraiba and the tragic events that unfolded in Somaliland in the 1980s. For one, those crimes were committed within the Somalia and not thousands of miles away and the victims were fellow Somalia; furthermore, those crimes were not limited to Northern Somalia, kidnappings of members of certain clans were done in Mogadishu itself and executions carried out in Mogadishu on daily basis. The regimes chief house of terror was located in Mogadishu- the site of many horrendous crimes.
With regards to “being accountable of what you do with your own hands” I think you have a very poor understanding of International Law. You are accountable for any crimes committed on your behalf. This is why the Serbian dictator is being prosecuted today and the rest of his generals.
