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National Security Law

Columbia Law School

Series

2002

Articles 1 - 1 of 1

Full-Text Articles in Law

On Justice And War: Contradictions In The Proposed Military Tribunals, George P. Fletcher Jan 2002

On Justice And War: Contradictions In The Proposed Military Tribunals, George P. Fletcher

Faculty Scholarship

The autumn of our anguish has passed, and we are still confused about how to describe the use of military force in Afghanistan. We are torn between using the language of justice and the language of war. Is this an attack by private individuals, a case of a single terrorist writ large? If the mass killings of September 11 are the crimes of individuals – Islamic fundamentalist versions of Timothy McVeigh – then we can think about arresting them and bringing them to "justice." The mantra of the Bush team, "bringing justice to them and them to justice," has seeped …