The nearly universal condemnation that has been directed toward President Trump after his Easter Sunday rant regarding his intent to destroy the entire Iranian “civilization”—a stance he has doubled down on several times since—has led to shrieks of international war crimes from many quarters, from the Pope to ordinary folks who are no dopes.
But it remains a Trumpian talking point as he wrestles with trying to reach a face-saving negotiated resolution to a war that many people wish he hadn’t started, perhaps even the President himself. This posture has deep, if surprising, links to Minnesota and the Twin Cities.
Illogical Logic
Going to the brink of war criminology comes as no surprise, as it follows the illogical path the administration has trod since it initiated the conflict. One of the most unsettling features was a remark by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, buried within a peroration about the extraordinary military success of the undertaking.
Pointing out that because of United States armed forces’ prowess, “it’s not a fair fight,” the Forest Lake native went on to declare that the vastly superior American military will not follow “any stupid rules of engagement.”
While a bit ambiguous, the message that emerges is that U.S. forces will not subscribe to the internationally recognized rules of warfare. Those protocols are derived from the Geneva Conventions, a four-part series of treaties signed in 1949 by 194 countries, including the United States. These conventions establish humanitarian rules for warfare, such as avoiding civilian casualties and providing for the treatment of prisoners.
Stemming from a trio of similar arrangements dating back to 1864, the 1949 pact establishes a basis for the prosecution of international war crimes, much like the post-World War II Nuremberg Trials of Nazi leadership that began 80 years ago. These events are famously depicted in the critically acclaimed movie Nuremberg, which happens to be derived from the book The Nazi and the Psychiatrist by Minneapolis author Jack El-Hai. Anyone who hasn’t seen it would be well-advised to view it—whether online, streaming, or otherwise.
The Minnesota Connection
In addition to the Minneapolis authorship of the source material, the Nuremberg Trials have another significant Minnesota connection. The chief prosecutor was Robert Jackson, a Justice of the Supreme Court who took a leave from the tribunal in 1946 to handle the case against the Nazi leadership.
Selected by President Truman to lead the prosecution team, Jackson had been the architect of a legal doctrine known as “home port” just a few years earlier. This doctrine was applied in the landmark case Northwest Airlines, Inc. v. Minnesota, in which the High Court ruled that the entire fleet of the airline—only 11 planes at that time—could be subject to personal property taxes in the state where the carrier was based, even though the airplanes spent significant time in other jurisdictions. That principle allowed the state to tax the entire fleet without apportioning taxes to other states, a tenet still applied to airlines today.
The tale of the Minneapolis-originated book, its conversion to Hollywood cinema, and the real-life characters in it—including Justice Jackson—were presciently recounted in this publication two months ago, before the current national conversation regarding war crimes even began.
