LONDON: Osama bin Laden, named as the man behind the Sept 11 terror attacks on the United States, should be treated as a criminal and tried before the International Court of Justice, says Noam Chomsky, a hero of the American left.

“What happened was a terrible crime” and should be treated as such, he said in an interview. The perpetrators should be found, brought to court, and the issues behind the terrorist strikes should be heard. There is a reason why it is not called a crime, which it is, but a war, which it isn’t. Crime is specific, and if it is a crime you have to present evidence. It’s very likely that the evidence the United States has is not credible”.

Ever since the terrorist attack, Chomsky and a growing number of American intellectuals have been making public statements calling for restrain. They are not alone. Chomsky, calls the Sept 11 attacks “horrendous” but adds: ”Osama bin Laden is doubtless praying for a US attack on Afghanistan. It will mobilize people to his horrendous cause”.

“If you bomb you are falling into the diabolical trap laid by Osama. There is a well known alternative: follow the principles of domestic and international law”.

Chomsky points to an earlier case of terrorism which was taken to court by the country that had been attacked. “The International Court of Justice condemned the regime for unlawful use of force (which is terrorism), ordering it to desist and pay reparations”. That regime was the US in its war against Nicaragua in the 1980s.

Nicaragua took its grievances about America’s military and paramilitary activities in and against the left-wing Sandinista government to the International Court of Justice in April 1984.

The court ruled in June 1986 that the US had acted against Nicaragua “in breach of its obligation under customary international law not to intervene in the affairs of another State.” in several ways, including mining Nicaraguan ports and training arming and financing the anti-government contra forces. In a later ruling the Court decided on the amount of compensation the US should pay Nicaragua. When the US ignored the ruling, Nicaragua took its case to the United Nations General Assembly, which affirmed the Court’s decision but does not have the mechanisms to enforce its own declaration.

Peter Marcuse, an urban planning professor at Columbia University, blames “US arrogance in international relations, most recently unilateralism in dealing with multilateral treaties, with global inequality in which US wealth contrasts with deep poverty elsewhere, with the US flexing its military muscles as the sole super power”.

Chomsky agrees, saying: “Even Saudi bankers and businessmen say people in the area are strongly opposed to US policies in region. The great majority of oppressed people (in the Middle East) are bitter — bitter that their great wealth is going to the West, not to the people in the slums of Cairo and refugee camps. They trace a lot back to the US”.— Gemini News