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So, I have been reading up on the Geneva Conventions. I have also been examining the United States violations of the Geneva Conventions and human rights. Therefore, I have decided to begin studying for the LSAT and I am aspiring to get into the Yale International Law program so as to demand and provide justice for these crimes and prosecute administrations and persons for war crimes, international law violations and human rights violations. So stoked!

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Best of luck. Your aspirations upon beginning law school might not match your aspirations when you graduate, though. All the same, again, best of luck! :) (Yer gonna need it, son! ;):D)

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My passion for justice and the upholding of international law are what is driving me to do this. If it makes me an enemy to administrations and governments who are in fact "outlaw states", so be it. Furthermore, the ignorance of the general American public on foreign policy, international affairs and violations performed on behalf of the US government is astounding. The poorly labeled "right wing" and "conservatives" appear to be more interested in corporate wealth above humanitarian need and affort as clearly demonstrated in the case of the US providing Saddam Hussein with weapons to combat Iran as a means to gain oil wealth. Such is a blatant breach of international law and portions of the Geneva Conventions. The latter is claimed according to Noam Chomsky and John Rawls, the leading political and moral philosopher of the late 19th century in America.

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So, I have been reading up on the Geneva Conventions. I have also been examining the United States violations of the Geneva Conventions and human rights. Therefore, I have decided to begin studying for the LSAT and I am aspiring to get into the Yale International Law program so as to demand and provide justice for these crimes and prosecute administrations and persons for war crimes, international law violations and human rights violations. So stoked!

Somehow Valentinus... I just can't see you doing this... I'm sure you feel strongly about these matters, but then so do others. I understand that as a U.S. citizen you are only directly concerned with the U.S., but also, I find it interesting that you can enumerate the U.S.'s faults, crimes, and international law violations and seemingly ignore what's going on throughout the world. As others have said... good luck with this....

GG

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My passion for justice and the upholding of international law are what is driving me to do this. If it makes me an enemy to administrations and governments who are in fact "outlaw states", so be it. Furthermore, the ignorance of the general American public on foreign policy, international affairs and violations performed on behalf of the US government is astounding. The poorly labeled "right wing" and "conservatives" appear to be more interested in corporate wealth above humanitarian need and affort as clearly demonstrated in the case of the US providing Saddam Hussein with weapons to combat Iran as a means to gain oil wealth. Such is a blatant breach of international law and portions of the Geneva Conventions. The latter is claimed according to Noam Chomsky and John Rawls, the leading political and moral philosopher of the late 19th century in America.

Nothing wrong with helping to keep the U.S. honest. Our history is not always pretty.

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Somehow Valentinus... I just can't see you doing this... I'm sure you feel strongly about these matters, but then so do others. I understand that as a U.S. citizen you are only directly concerned with the U.S., but also, I find it interesting that you can enumerate the U.S.'s faults, crimes, and international law violations and seemingly ignore what's going on throughout the world. As others have said... good luck with this....

GG

You misunderstand. While these specific posts deal with the US, I am also deeply concerned with violations taking place in Greece, Britain, Egypt, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Russia and Syria. There are others but this short list has my attention at this time. Because I am a US citizen, it is my responsibility as well as other citizens to hold the US government and elected officials and appointees responsible for their actions. One such case is Alberto Gonzales', a former White House counsel, request that President Bush rescind the Geneva Conventions that Gonzales saw as "quaint" or "obsolete". He also informed Bush that rescinding the GC "substantially reduces the threat of domestic criminal prosecution under the War Crimes Act." The War Crimes Act, passed in 1996, carries severe penalties for. grave breaches of the conventions: the death penalty, "if death results to the victim" of the breach.

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Somehow Valentinus... I just can't see you doing this... I'm sure you feel strongly about these matters, but then so do others. I understand that as a U.S. citizen you are only directly concerned with the U.S., but also, I find it interesting that you can enumerate the U.S.'s faults, crimes, and international law violations and seemingly ignore what's going on throughout the world. As others have said... good luck with this....

GG

To be clear, I'm ignoring no one. One of my concerns was the remaining effects of the US-backed Peruvian government that sought and succeeded to an extent to violently oppress and remove Peruvian citizens from their homes and massacurring men, women and children and burning their homes to the ground in the name of corporatism and industrialization. Not without reason, Abimael Guzman organized a militant guerilla faction known as Sendero Luminoso to fight the oppression of both uS and Peruvian military. At one time, the Senderistas were able to take bake approximately 40% of their lands and expel military factions that threatened their way of life. Ironically, this reminds me of the life propagated by the Bush and now Obama administrations that the reason for Muslim extremists attacks against the US was because of Western Culture. This is not so. Jihadi extremists attacked because of the US presence, and growing presence, in Muslim holy lands.

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I studied international law at one point and the basic conclusion is that it is ineffective because there cannot be punitive action against defendents, let alone even bringing them to trial. Int'l law is a bit of a joke and generally is effective only in cases of business, but good luck with that.

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Bravo Valentius! Have you looked into the coup d'état by Pinochet? A man in my ward was a human rights lawyer there following the overthrow of President Allende. His last official action before leaving the country was to turn around on the tarmac and flip the Chilean government officials off before getting on the plain. It's a topic of interest for me as the coup was the cause for my father to leave Chile when he was 11, before eventually getting refugee status in Canada at age 15. The United States was very much involved in the coup and the subsequent support of the Pinochet.

I applaud you in your choice.

Edited by halconero
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Bravo Valentius! Have you looked into the coup d'état by Pinochet? A man in my ward was a human rights lawyer there following the overthrow of President Allende. His last official action before leaving the country was to turn around on the tarmac and flip the Chilean government officials off before getting on the plain. It's a topic of interest for me as the coup was the cause for my father to leave Chile when he was 11, before eventually getting refugee status in Canada at age 15. The United States was very much involved in the coup and the subsequent support of the Pinochet.

I applaud you in your choice.

Have you read The Condor Years?

It can be dry in places but it's an excellent book on the Pinochet regime. It also highlights the U.S.'s support of a dictator which did horrific things (which we knew about) including ultimately assassinating a U.S. government official on our own soil while we pretty much looked the other way.

Edited by bluebell
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It should be shocking to learn of the support that the US has given to dictators and fascists to serve their own agenda but its not. In fact, it should be expected as the US gov't would commit war crimes, ignore treaties and conventions. Administrations such as FDR, Kennedy, Johnson, Reagan, Bush 1, Clinton, Bush 2 and now Obama resemble terrorist factions when their dirty laundry is exposed for the world to see. As such, these administration's should have been and should be prosecuted, punished and fined for their atrocities. Washington tends to have this arrogant and narcissistic idea that it is above international law when the laws don't serve its agenda but sternly enforces international laws on others. Most people will inappropriately and misguidedly say this is a double standard. Not so! Washington only truly believes in its own self serving single standard.

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Washington only truly believes in its own self serving single standard.

That's not really surprising though. The U.S. government is out to protect it's own interests above any other. That doesn't really bother me in and of itself.

I would like the U.S. to do things as morally right as possible though, and that's something we could often get a lot better at. Having a degree in history, I've been able to study of many of our past flaws and some of them have truly been awful. But, I have also been able to see the complexity of the issues and realize that sometimes what is the best 'moral' choice is not easily identified.

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That's not really surprising though. The U.S. government is out to protect it's own interests above any other. That doesn't really bother me in and of itself.

I would like the U.S. to do things as morally right as possible though, and that's something we could often get a lot better at. Having a degree in history, I've been able to study of many of our past flaws and some of them have truly been awful. But, I have also been able to see the complexity of the issues and realize that sometimes what is the best 'moral' choice is not easily identified.

You're right. It's not shocking. Washington is willing to break international law and treaties and conventions no matter who gets hurt in the process. It is naive to believe that Washington always considers the greater good for us and them.

You speak of the natural ethical dilemma. The problem is that Washington doesn't consider fully the effects their decisions have on others. Take for example the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq that actually began in 2002. War wasn't officially declared until March 2003. It was against international law to invade a country without formally declaring war first. Then the Geneva Conventions violations that followed are devastating but not shocking considering Washington's imperial greed. The violations were concerning medical care. Hospitals were occupied and healthcare providers and patients were detained and had their hands zip tied. Based on the conditions to which the US agreed in the Geneva Conventions and war Crimes Act laws were broken and any person who died as a result of these breaches is grounds for capital punishment for those who violated these laws. I believe such punishment should be upheld. Furthermore, I believe it is the moral obligation of any person who disagrees with orders to commit terrorist acts such as these to defy orders. There is not a single rational justification for these crimes.

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