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Re: [Phys-L] proof that humans have not evolved

On Jun 27, 2012, at 10:53 PM, Ze'ev Wurman wrote:

Just today a friend happened to post this on his FB page:

"It is not the function of our government to keep the citizen from
falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the
government from falling into error." -- Justice Robert H. Jackson
(1892-1954)

After all is said and done, I believe Justice Jackson was right.

Couldn't agree more. At Nuremberg, Jackson was instrumental in establishing critically important international law regarding the making of aggressive unprovoked war. An excerpt (emphases added):

Statement by Justice Jackson on War Trials Agreement; August 12, 1945
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/imt_jack02.asp

"THE DANGER, SO FAR AS THE MORAL JUDGMENT OF THE WORLD IS CONCERNED, WHICH WILL BESET THESE TRIALS IS THAT THEY COME TO BE REGARDED AS MERELY POLITICAL TRIALS IN WHICH THE VICTOR WREAKS VENGEANCE UPON THE VANQUISHED. However unfortunate it may be, there seems no way of doing anything about the crimes against the peace and against humanity except that the victors judge the vanquished.

"Experience has taught that we can hardly expect them to try each other. The scale of their attack leaves no neutrals in the world. We must summon all that we have of dispassionate judgment to the task of patiently and fairly presenting the record of these evil deeds in these trials.

"WE MUST MAKE CLEAR TO THE GERMANS THAT THE WRONG FOR WHICH THEIR FALLEN LEADERS ARE ON TRIAL IS NOT THAT THEY LOST THE WAR, BUT THAT THEY STARTED IT. AND WE MUST NOT ALLOW OURSELVES TO BE DRAWN INTO A TRIAL OF THE CAUSES OF THE WAR, FOR OUR POSITION IS THAT NO GRIEVANCES OR POLICIES WILL JUSTIFY RESORT TO AGGRESSIVE WAR. IT IS UTTERLY RENOUNCED AND CONDEMNED AS AN INSTRUMENT OF POLICY.

"I therefore want to make clear to the American people that we have taken an important step forward in this instrument in FIXING INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY OF WAR-MONGERING, AMONG WHATEVER PEOPLES, AS AN INTERNATIONAL CRIME. We have taken another in recognizing an international accountability for persecutions, exterminations, and crimes against humanity when associated with attacks on the peace of the international order."

I fear, however, that Jackson was wrong in suggesting that victory does not effectively insulate the aggressor from punishment.

John Mallinckrodt
Cal Poly Pomona