Barney Frank Accuses Bush of Crime Against Humanity

We're not party to the ICC, but its fundamental statute includes a list of the crimeswithin the ICC's jurisdiction. Among them, under "Crimes Against Humanity":

1. For the purpose of this Statute, "crime against humanity" means any of the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack:

...

(d) Deportation or forcible transfer of population;

That is the "ethnic cleansing" provision of the ICC.

Which is what Barney Frank accused President Bush of doing through his Hurricane Katrina policy. He's wrong, of course. Article 25 spells out that an affirmative act is required to create liability for crimes against humanity. There's really no such thing as "ethnic cleansing by inaction"--and the statute specifically prohibits extending crimes "by analogy". "Ethnic Cleansing by Inaction" is therefore nought but a cynical impossibility. It's like "drunk driving while sober". But it sounds meaty and serious and thinky and the base will just lap it up.

Bryan Preston urges Rep. Frank to put his money where his mouth is. I think Rep. Frank is too shrewd for that, but he stuck his neck way, way out on this one. For a congressman to accuse the President of a crime against humanity, he'd better have something to back it up other than wishful thinking and inflammatory rhetoric. He should be ashamed.