This article establishes that politically motivated pursuit of criminal justice at the international level undermines trust in the international legal order and inflicts multilateral harm that goes far beyond the facts subject to judicial process. The author analyzes the pursuit of justice in relation to two major events: the murder of Rafiq Hariri, a former Lebanese prime minister, and the international crimes that Saddam Hussein, former president of Iraq, was accused of committing. In the first example, the author examines the role of the UN Security Council, including reference to the efforts of the US, relative to the investigation and establishment of a special tribunal for Lebanon; and in the second, the role of the US in the trial and execution of Saddam Hussein. Both cases demonstrate that justice is the main victim of politicizing the judicial process.
University of California Press