Opinion | The ‘Immoral’ Killing of the Iranian General (original) (raw)

Letters|The ‘Immoral’ Killing of the Iranian General

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/15/opinion/letters/us-iran-killing.html

letter

A former Nuremberg war crimes prosecutor says the American public deserves to know the truth.

Jan. 15, 2020

General Suleimani, right, with Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, at a religious ceremony in Tehran in 2015.Credit...Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader, via Associated Press

To the Editor:

Now in my hundredth year, I cannot remain silent. I entered the United States in January 1921 as a poor immigrant boy, and I have felt obliged to repay the United States for the opportunities given to me.

I was an American combat soldier in World War II, and was proud to serve my country as the chief prosecutor in a war crimes trial at Nuremberg against Nazi leaders who murdered millions of innocent men, women and children.

The administration recently announced that, on orders of the president, the United States had “taken out” (which really means “murdered”) an important military leader of a country with which we were not at war. As a Harvard Law School graduate who has written extensively on the subject, I view such immoral action as a clear violation of national and international law.

The public is entitled to know the truth. The United Nations Charter, the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice in The Hague are all being bypassed. In this cyberspace world, young people everywhere are in mortal danger unless we change the hearts and minds of those who seem to prefer war to law.

Benjamin B. Ferencz
Delray Beach, Fla.

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