Memorial Day: ‘Make It Matter’
Memorial Day: ‘Make It Matter’
Plus: The ICC Is Playing Politics with International Law
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MARK HERTLING: Memorial Day: ‘Make It Matter’
THE FILM BEGINS WITH AN OLDER MAN walking through a peaceful cemetery. Keeping a few steps ahead of his family, he searches for someone’s grave marker. We see his intense concentration and feel his suppressed anxiety: He knows he is about to face something he has been carrying with him for decades. Finally, he reaches a white cross inscribed with the name he has been looking for. He collapses, overwhelmed.
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BRIAN STEWART: The ICC Is Playing Politics with International Law
THE THEORY BEHIND WAR CRIMES as a category is that even in violent mortal struggles, morality still applies. The same principle forms the foundation for the distinction between just and unjust wars, between self-defense and aggression. The problem is that there is no law without politics—and the announcement this week of International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan’s application for arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza seems to have more to do with politics than law. Khan’s lawless intervention, though draped in elaborate legal reasoning, is the product of a nakedly political scheme. Ostensibly designed to satisfy both sides of the conflict, or at any rate to dissatisfy both, it threatens not just the norms and standards of international humanitarian law, but the principle of just war itself.
WILL SELBER: Remember the Gold Star Families
ONE OF MY LAST RESPONSIBILITIES as an Air Force officer was to deliver the most devastating news imaginable to a military family: Their child had died while serving on active duty.
Serving as a casualty notification officer is always a temporary assignment—which is good, because as important as the work is, no one wants to do it for too long. Each of the officers around the country assigned the duty covers their local area. The movies typically depict casualty notifications after someone dies in combat, but it can be even tougher to inform a family about non-combat fatalities.
🚨OVERTIME🚨
Happy Friday! Overtime is off on Monday, and we’re starting the relaxation with family out west. I hope that you have a restful and meaningful Memorial Day.
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Editorial photos provided by Getty Images. For full credits, please consult the article.