SEIA22

=Chapter 22=
==Silent enim inter arma: Tribunals==
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Unity City
North America, Terra
Sol Star System
Republic of the Sphere
3079
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[....Opening: The Defense]
Seether stepped up.  She'd put some thought into her appearance for this.   Surface Duty Class A uniform pattern 2S-the skirted or 'kilt' uniform, she'd put on makeup to LCAF's standard handbook, and her hair was bound up in a bun-style, and she had the uncomfortable shoes-to gain an extra few centimeters of height.  
"Ladies and Gentlemen of the Tribunal, Madame President of the Tribunal,  I'm not going to play to the crowds outside.  Funny, normally I work the other side of this sort of thing, as a prosecutor. While I do not normally work on cases with international political implications, that doesn't mean I can't see a political prosecution when one is rolled out in front of me."
She strode, "I am not a fool, and neither are you. Neither is my esteemed opponent with the Prosecution.  There are Facts here, that can not be disputed;  Twelve million residents of the city of Geneva in Europe are dead. The city itself has been rendered in the past-tense.  These are facts.  What we are discussing is Responsibility. I will first prove, that the bunker complex under Geneva was a valid military target deliberately co-located within a civilian zone. That the victims of Geneva were being used as human shields, and that therefore, the claims by my esteemed opponent, are spurious at best, and reflective of a form of gross negligence by the Terran Leadership and their masters in the Word of Blake."
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"It was extremely regrettable that twelve million people had to die.  I will show all of you, and ...the public following this trial why it was necessary for those people to die, as well as who is responsible for that necessity.  I will show precedence for the actions of my client, precedents that have already been shown to be mitigating circumstances under the articles of war.  I will show aggravating circumstances involved in the decision to deploy CROWBAR, and I will show that my client is, if not innocent, then certainly not guilty of the charges laid against her."
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"This case arouses strong emotional responses.  Emotions, like charity, empathy, kindness, mercy, and concepts like Justice are among the finest parts of the human animal.  But..."
She turned to the prosecution, "But.  War is War.  War is the intentional destruction of human life to achieve political ends. Normally, it is undertaken only when other means have failed. Sometimes as in the case of this particular war, it is undertaken in place of those other means. As an 'acceptable substitute' for negotiation, for compromise, for discussion, even for thinking or thought or mercy, and some enemies. One can not afford to show mercy.  I have evidence to document what I mean, and you're right, Colonel Haskins, this trial will be historical. It will determine the rightness or wrongness of conduct in war, it may change how we pursue wars in the future, and what warriors and soldiers are willing to execute in the name of victory."
She turned to the panel, "It will also determine whether the ends justify the means or whether the means determine the ends. It will decide if victory in the field of battle is sufficient justification for actions conducted to achieve that victory.  Unlike Kentares, or New Dallas, which established a forgiveness for the winners that burned the human race in nuclear and biological fire for centuries, we have the chance here to establish the true limits of what is acceptable to achieve victory. When, and under what circumstances, extraordinary measures become necessary.  YOU will decide what the limit is, what is 'acceptable' and whether the victors can be held to account, and for what they must be held to account for."
"But that choice isn't the only one.  Responsibility must be assigned-who is responsible, when a military asset is covered in a shield of innocent flesh? who is responsible when a killer uses a child as improvised body-armor to keep killing?  THAT will also be the legacy of this Tribunal."  she folded her hands before her, "You get to decide it folks, the same question every police officer faced with a hostage situation has to confront, the issue every field commander facing an insurgency.  When I was assigned to the 2nd Division, First Fleet, during the Civil War, my unit was infantry. We ended up having to follow behind the heavy 'Mech units. We had to clean it up, doing search and rescue in Tharkad City which no longer exists, but it did then.  We reached a point where Nondi Steiner's loyalists had forted up for six hours. It was a shopping area, in one of the poorer sections of town. One of my men found a mother and her child under some debris."
She studied each face as she went on.  "It took us only a little while to get the section of wall off of her.  she begged our Corpsman to treat her baby."
She hesitated, "The child had died in the collapse.  I have seen the cost of all-out war on civilians with my own eyes.  I have held the broken body of a child killed. Not even in the crossfire, but because they were at the wrong point, in the wrong place as war machines did battle in city streets. I have seen people driven mad with grief.  I understand the rage outside, because I have felt it. Felt it pulling the innocent bystanders from the rubble, their anguish and the holes smashed in their lives.  I do not defend this action lightly, or discount the loss...but this is war, and in war, the second victim is anyone too weak or slow to escape or fight back."
"I yield my time." she sat down.
Khan McKenna sighed, "Okay then, let's get on to the discovery of evidence.  Prosecution is up."
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Seether knew the mention wouldn't work on the Clan members of the panel, but she had a strategy here.
Reasonable Doubt.
That only took hitting grace notes with the other foreign officers.
She leaned back, and prepared to see what Colonel Haskins was going to roll out in the evidence phase. When the facts of the case weren't in doubt, and he'd rooted his case in motives.
Hell, both of us are rooting it in motives on some level.
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