What are the legal distinctions between retaliation, reprisal,and revenge?
Retaliation and revenge have no legitimacy in international law. There is, however, the concept of lawful reprisal, which consists of acts which normally would be illegal, but are taken in response to prior illegal attacks. A reprisal can only be taken as a last resort in self-defense, and must be executed with the objective of ensuring future compliance with legal norms. Steven Ratner does not approve of the term reprisal, and instead stresses the importance of self-defense: The violation of international humanitarian law by one side in an armed conflict does not justify its violation by the other. Is there a role for an international court? As yet there is no international tribunal that could prosecute the crimes committed on September 11. The International Criminal Court (ICC) will not have retrospective jurisdiction. Several of our interviewees point out that the UN could establish an ad hoc tribunal on the model of the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavi
