The Hague

War Crimes: A Taste of Inhumanity -- Cannibalism on the Battlefield
Submitted by: GreyHawk on Sat, 03/15/2008 - 07:52
Out of the war crimes trial of Charles Taylor at The Hague in Amsterdam, this bloody gem:
__________
Grim tales of cannibalism highlighting the brutality of West Africa's civil wars emerged in testimony Thursday at the war crimes trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor.
Joseph "Zigzag" Marzah [...snip...] said African peacekeepers and even United Nations personnel were killed and eaten on the battlefield by Taylor's militiamen.
[...snip...]
Prodded under cross-examination by defense lawyer Courtenay Griffith, Marzah gave a sometimes-graphic description of cannibalism that altered between the ritual taking of vengeance and the practical need for food.
[...snip...]
"Did Charles Taylor order you to eat people?" Griffith asked.
"Yes, to set an example for the people to be afraid," Marzah replied.
[...snip...]
Enemies, he was told, "are no longer human beings."
__________
Join the United Nations, see the world, get eaten on the battlefield.
The dehumanization of enemies results in atrocity -- every time. That, perchance, should serve as additional consideration when other such redefinitions of words and terms are tossed about to justify inhuman and inhumane behaviors.
...a few specific terms that pop to mind are "enemy combatants" -- a term used to justify denying Geneva Convention-defined rights to prisoners of war -- and "enhanced interrogation techniques" -- a term used to soften the perception of coercive forms of "interrogation" that have been, and still are, prosecutable as torture.
Like waterboarding, for example.1
Set Up Buzz!
- GreyHawk's blog
- Login or register to post comments
- Read more


