Background To Issues
The Iraq War left many people dead or injured, and some sources have identified significant war crimes or crimes against humanity in its conduct; also mainstream media have reported breaches of the Geneva Conventions such as at Abu Ghraib; and the use of depleted uranium was controversial. According to UN estimates, a further million people died during the trade embargo (imposed by the UN following Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait), due to malnutrition or lack of medical supplies, and from sanctions targeting domestic water systems (History of Iraq). Many hundreds of thousands of these were children (whose deaths were documented by US military and are available on US military declassified websites). In addition, few commentators believe that under 100-200,000 civilians died as a result of other acts during the 2003 war.
Although other crimes are investigated, such tribunals require a lot of political will and strength to set up and few commentators appear to believe that a formal tribunal such as the Nuremberg Trials or the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia will be established. In addition the US has refused to ratify the International Criminal Court established for the purpose of investigation international crime. In the light of perceived growing tendencies to ignore international law, this tribunal was formed to investigate the concerns of other groups and onlookers into Iraq.
Read more about this topic: World Tribunal On Iraq
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