Justice for All

I find it quite interesting and significant that the U.S. seems so cautious when dealing with former Nazis who, being American citizens, have been accused or investigated for war crimes. It's as if the government were very reluctant to cooperate with countries who request the extradition of those individuals. In a recent and well-publicized case, the proceedings took so long that the man died without their being a resolution to the case.

Now, there is another case in which Germany wants to prosecute a former guard at a concentration camp, but the man has been living in the U.S. since 1952, when he was 27 years old. His "defense" is that he was drafted when he was 17, and that he was just a perimeter guard that had nothing to do with the extermination of Jews that went on inside the camp.

You would think that the Americans would be very interested in seeing that justice is done in a case like this. That they would be horrified to find out that they have been harboring a war criminal all these years. Ultimately, the Germans want to deal with one of their own. If they think that they have enough evidence to convict him, they should be allowed to proceed.

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