All the Missing Souls: A Personal History of the War Crimes Tribunals

by David Scheffer

Overview

The behind-the-scenes story of how today's war crimes tribunals came to be

Within days of Madeleine Albright's confirmation as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in 1993, she instructed David Scheffer to spearhead the historic mission to create a war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. As senior adviser to Albright and then as President Clinton's ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues, Scheffer was at the forefront of the efforts that led to criminal tribunals for the Balkans, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Cambodia, and that resulted in the creation of the permanent International Criminal Court. All the Missing Souls is Scheffer's gripping insider's account of the international gamble to prosecute those responsible for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, and to redress some of the bloodiest human rights atrocities in our time.

Scheffer reveals the truth behind Washington's failures during the 1994 Rwandan genocide and the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, the anemic hunt for notorious war criminals, how American exceptionalism undercut his diplomacy, and the perilous quests for accountability in Kosovo and Cambodia. He takes readers from the killing fields of Sierra Leone to the political back rooms of the U.N. Security Council, providing candid portraits of major figures such as Madeleine Albright, Anthony Lake, Richard Goldstone, Louise Arbour, Samuel "Sandy" Berger, Richard Holbrooke, and Wesley Clark, among others.

A stirring personal account of an important historical chapter, All the Missing Souls provides new insights into the continuing struggle for international justice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781400839483
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	12/05/2011
Series:	Human Rights and Crimes against Humanity , #18
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	552
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

David Scheffer is the Mayer Brown/Robert A. Helman Professor of Law and director of the Center for International Human Rights at Northwestern University School of Law. He led American initiatives on war crimes tribunals during the 1990s, served as the first U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues (1997-2001), and was named one of Foreign Policy's "Top Global Thinkers of 2011."

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION: Ambassador to Hell 1


PART I
CHAPTER ONE: An Echo of Nuremberg 15
CHAPTER TWO: It's Genocide, Stupid 45
CHAPTER THREE: Credible Justice for Rwanda 69
CHAPTER FOUR: Abandoned at Srebrenica 87
CHAPTER FIVE: The Pastor from Mugonero 108
CHAPTER SIX: Unbearable Timidity 124


PART II
CHAPTER SEVEN: The Siren of Exceptionalism 163
CHAPTER EIGHT: Futile Endgame 199
CHAPTER NINE: Rome's Aftermath 227


PART III
CHAPTER TEN: Crime Scene Kosovo 251
CHAPTER ELEVEN: Freetown Is Burning 296
CHAPTER TWELVE: The Toughest Cockfi ght 341


PART IV
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: No Turning Back 409
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Postscript on Law, Crimes, and Impunity 421


Acknowledgments 441
Appendix: Comparison of Modern War Crimes Tribunals 444
Notes 451
Further Reading 501
List of Illustrations 511
Index 513

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"David Scheffer tells the inside story of the creation of international justice for victims of atrocity crimes. As the picture of astronauts walking on the moon embodied the evolution of technology, this book captures eight years of a controversial process that is changing humanity forever."—Luis Moreno-Ocampo, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court

"Scheffer's personal experiences combined with his legal knowledge and moral appreciation of what it means to build a genuine system of international criminal justice make this an important book. His tale makes clear just how new and fragile this system is, and how contingent it is on the personal determination and political will of a handful of key players."—Anne-Marie Slaughter, Princeton University

"Scheffer is not some sheltered academic writing idealistically about a world he does not know or understand. He has seen what can happen when there is no rule of law. This book is a treasure and an amazing achievement."—Gregory B. Craig, former White House counsel to President Barack Obama

"David Scheffer was a central mover in the 1990's international assault on the world's architects of atrocity. The main weapons in this campaign were the international tribunals for former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Cambodia, and the newly established International Criminal Court. Scheffer's important and original book is a detailed and surprisingly personal account of a historic movement and the vital story of a revolutionary international investment in the struggle for a future of peace with justice."—Sir Brian Urquhart, former under-secretary-general of the United Nations

"Few persons have been so intimately involved as David Scheffer in the contemporary emergence of international criminal justice. His insightful book shows not only his important role in bringing about the tribunals and the International Criminal Court, but also reveals the inner workings of the international legislative processes."—M. Cherif Bassiouni, DePaul University

"David Scheffer has written a fascinating book that will be read with great interest by everyone in the growing field of international criminal law, as well as many others who are concerned about international law and institutions. All the Missing Souls is rich in detail and very compelling. There is nothing comparable to this in terms of its breadth and authority."—William A. Schabas, author of Genocide in International Law

"All the Missing Souls is a masterful, well-paced read that fills a glaring gap in the literature on international justice. Scheffer is to be applauded for having written a passionate yet restrained personal account that is lucid, self-critical, and smart, and of singular importance. I have no doubt that All the Missing Souls will come to rank alongside Telford Taylor's The Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials. Scheffer is the Taylor of our times."—Jens Meierhenrich, London School of Economics and Political Science

Editorial Reviews

…a revealing and valuable record of the U.S. role in the effort to entrench accountability for mass atrocities as a central principle in international affairs.
—The Washington Post

Anthony Dworkin

A diplomat fights an uphill battle to bring the worst criminals to justice in this dogged memoir. Scheffer, U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes during the Clinton administration, recounts his efforts to establish U.N. war crimes tribunals to prosecute mass killings in the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Cambodia. He had an insider’s view of unfolding bloodbaths and provides anguished eyewitness testimony of victims’ suffering and the Clinton administration’s often feckless response. But mostly he describes his endless wrangling to set up the tribunals, a task that required delicate bargaining with U.N. potentates, Washington mandarins, shell-shocked postatrocity regimes, and the perpetrators themselves—all of whom had reason to sacrifice justice to self-interest and political expediency. (He’s especially scathing on America’s “exceptionalist” refusal to accept International Criminal Court jurisdiction over possible American war crimes.) Scheffer’s narrative is an epic diplomatic history that’s lucid but often eye-glazing in its detailed reconstructions of years-long negotiations and mulling of the niceties of international law. At times his memoir gives a sense of diplomats and jurists dithering uselessly amid hurricanes of violence, but in it we see the birth of a more responsible and civilized world order. 36 photos. Agent: (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

"Winner of the 2012 Book of the Year Award, American National Section of L'Association Internationale de Droit Pénal (AIDP)"

Selected for the Washington Post's "Best of 2012: 50 notable works of nonfiction

From the Publisher

"Scheffer, who led U.S. efforts to develop international criminal courts during the Clinton administration, has written a personal history of these efforts. . . . Full of exhaustive details, although not organized in chronological or systematic fashion, this book will be of great interest to specialists in the field."

Choice

On behalf of the world's most powerful nation in the 1990s, Scheffer was pivotal throughout the formative decade of international criminal justice. No historian or scholar of international criminal law can afford to miss his newly published All the Missing Souls: A Personal History of the War Crimes Tribunals. . . . The role of a talented and committed diplomat and lawyer, in the service of the world's most powerful nation and of his own pathway to redemption, can be invaluable. In the end, we are all indebted to Scheffer for his personal contributions to the cause.

American Journal of International Law - Doug Cassel

Scheffer's general observations and recommendations are grounded in a wealth of detail on the diplomatic ins and outs of the pursuit of international criminal justice during his tenure.

American Journal of International Law - Richard B. Bilder

All the Missing Souls is an excellent narrative on the formation and the future of international justice and rule of law initiatives.

Chicago Bar Association Record - Justin L. Heather

David Scheffer has provided us with a unique insight into the international legislative process and into the making of US foreign policy. We are in his debt.

RUSI Journal - Chris Brown

All the Missing Souls clearly fills a gap in literature on the administration of international justice, and it is must reading for those interested in emerging themselves profoundly in this field. His direct personal involvement in working to create international tribunals to bring to justice individuals responsible for the worst of the 'atrocity crimes' of recent decades demonstrates that perseverance and tenacity can make a difference on the international scene.

American Diplomacy - Martin Wenick

This is an important book, its final chapter being, perhaps, the most important, because it points a way forward to new categories of crimes against humanity, such as atrocity crime, which need to be on the statute book if the ICC is to have even sharper teeth.

Middleburgh Blog - Rabbi Dr Charles H Middleburgh

[Scheffer] documents, in careful detail, the convoluted behind-the-scenes steps that went into the setting up of the various tribunals, the nit-picking delays, the timidity and obfuscation of governments and the endless postponements and quibbling. . . . [A] historically important book of record.

Literary Review - Caroline Moorehead

This is an honest and scholarly book.

New Statesman - Geoffrey Robertson

The reporting of genocide and mass atrocities in the media often has the effect of dulling us to their full horror. They become abstractions, something that happens to other people, far away. In All the Missing Souls, Scheffer makes those crimes immediate and real, and describes an extraordinary effort to further the creation of a world that 'holds war criminals in contempt and breeds them no more.'

Chapter 16 - Maria Browning

As the first Ambassador at large for War Crimes Issues, David Scheffer was literally at the centre of what is the most fertile period in the development of international criminal law since the Nuremberg Trial. . . . His insights into the dynamics of the evolving US policy in international criminal justice are invaluable. Amongst the many textbooks in international criminal law, David Scheffer's book is refreshingly different. It makes good reading for specialists and for students, yet it is also highly accessible to a broad public. This is a must acquisition for the international criminal law bookshelf.

PhD Studies in Human Rights - William A. Schabas

The most enduring and sobering message of All the Missing Souls is that—unless the most powerful players in international military actions insist otherwise—international criminal justice is always at the bottom of the list.

Harvard Magazine - Jacqueline Bhabha

Scheffer recounts the effort to extend the reach of international justice to war zones and collapsing societies. . . . This impeccably documented work stands as a condemnation not just of such Bush-era expediency but also of moral compromise at the expense of the powerless. It's also the story of an attempt to attain the most strenuous of goals: upholding civilization in the face of monstrous evil. Scheffer is one of the very few people who can tell it.

Time - Douglas Gillison

Meticulous. . . . From 1993 to 1997 [Scheffer] served as senior adviser to Madeleine Albright, the US ambassador to the UN, and then until 2001, on President Bill Clinton's nomination, he became the first US ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues. Scheffer is therefore particularly well placed to describe the changes that occurred over that eight-year period. . . . All the Missing Souls: A Personal History of the War Crimes Tribunals is first and foremost an insider's account, and one written from a US perspective. . . . No country has done more to create an international justice system than the US, or to keep itself outside the reach of that system. If nothing else, Scheffer's account establishes that for the US, even for the Clinton administration, this was about making international law for others.

Financial Times - Philippe Sands

David Scheffer . . . provides the ultimate insider's life work, part autobiography, part documentary, all highly informative and enlightening. Indeed, much of the information contained in this text simply cannot be obtained from any other source.

International Affairs - Matthew Kane

A revealing and valuable record of the U.S. role in the effort to entrench accountability for mass atrocities as a central principle in international affairs. . . . The centerpiece of Scheffer's book is a long and vivid account of the negotiations to set up a permanent International Criminal Court.

Washington Post - Anthony Dworkin

David Scheffer, a former State Department official who was a major architect of the five new tribunals of the 1990s, takes a refreshingly different approach to American pride in his semi-autobiographical study of the new courts. He is critical of his president (Clinton), he is critical of his secretary of state (Albright), and, remarkably and refreshingly in an American memoir in the twenty-first century, he is critical of himself. . . . Scheffer . . . offers an impressively gripping and persuasive story of the complexity of his own undertakings: the cooperation across bureaucracies domestic and international, the development of law respectfully and creatively, and the furious indifference of circumstance to the best of intentions. In other words, he has written a good book of contemporary history.

New Republic - Timothy Snyder

The story [Scheffer] tells is fascinating, for it makes clear that his principal adversary in the struggle for international justice wasn't African warlords or Balkan nationalists but members of his own government.

Times Literary Supplement - Lawrence R Douglas

All the Missing Souls is a very personal history, an angry book by an often bitter man caught in the middle, conflicted in his loyalties, trying to advance the American agenda on international justice, while simultaneously having to tell potential allies in other countries that the agenda did not apply to Americans. . . . [T]he question of whether the establishment of international justice was actually worth it hangs over David Scheffer's narrative. . . . Justice—imperfect, partial, expensive—has been done and even been seen to be done. In these places, murderous rages have subsided. Some have reconciled. States have achieved stability. People are moving on. One of the reasons for this may be that in some cases justice was done. If so, David Scheffer can be proud of what he tried to do.

New York Review of Books - Michael Ignatieff

This is an important book, its final chapter being, perhaps, the most important, because it points a way forward to new categories of crimes against humanity, such as atrocity crime, which need to be on the statute book if the ICC is to have even sharper teeth.

Rabbi, Doctor; Middleburgh Blog - Charles H. Middleburgh

The story [Scheffer] tells is fascinating, for it makes clear that his principal adversary in the struggle for international justice wasn't African warlords or Balkan nationalists but members of his own government.

Times Literary Supplement - Lawrence R. Douglas

This is an important book, its final chapter being, perhaps, the most important, because it points a way forward to new categories of crimes against humanity, such as atrocity crime, which need to be on the statute book if the ICC is to have even sharper teeth.

Middleburgh Blog - Charles H Middleburgh

David Scheffer has provided us with a unique insight into the international legislative process and into the making of US foreign policy. We are in his debt.
— Chris Brown

RUSI Journal

All the Missing Souls clearly fills a gap in literature on the administration of international justice, and it is must reading for those interested in emerging themselves profoundly in this field. His direct personal involvement in working to create international tribunals to bring to justice individuals responsible for the worst of the 'atrocity crimes' of recent decades demonstrates that perseverance and tenacity can make a difference on the international scene.
— Martin Wenick

American Diplomacy

This is an important book, its final chapter being, perhaps, the most important, because it points a way forward to new categories of crimes against humanity, such as atrocity crime, which need to be on the statute book if the ICC is to have even sharper teeth.
— Rabbi Dr Charles H Middleburgh

Middleburgh Blog

[Scheffer] documents, in careful detail, the convoluted behind-the-scenes steps that went into the setting up of the various tribunals, the nit-picking delays, the timidity and obfuscation of governments and the endless postponements and quibbling. . . . [A] historically important book of record.
— Caroline Moorehead

Literary Review

This is an honest and scholarly book.
— Geoffrey Robertson

New Statesman

The reporting of genocide and mass atrocities in the media often has the effect of dulling us to their full horror. They become abstractions, something that happens to other people, far away. In All the Missing Souls, Scheffer makes those crimes immediate and real, and describes an extraordinary effort to further the creation of a world that 'holds war criminals in contempt and breeds them no more.'
— Maria Browning

Chapter 16

The most enduring and sobering message of All the Missing Souls is that—unless the most powerful players in international military actions insist otherwise—international criminal justice is always at the bottom of the list.
— Jacqueline Bhabha

Harvard Magazine

Scheffer recounts the effort to extend the reach of international justice to war zones and collapsing societies. . . . This impeccably documented work stands as a condemnation not just of such Bush-era expediency but also of moral compromise at the expense of the powerless. It's also the story of an attempt to attain the most strenuous of goals: upholding civilization in the face of monstrous evil. Scheffer is one of the very few people who can tell it.
— Douglas Gillison

Time

Meticulous. . . . From 1993 to 1997 [Scheffer] served as senior adviser to Madeleine Albright, the US ambassador to the UN, and then until 2001, on President Bill Clinton's nomination, he became the first US ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues. Scheffer is therefore particularly well placed to describe the changes that occurred over that eight-year period. . . . All the Missing Souls: A Personal History of the War Crimes Tribunals is first and foremost an insider's account, and one written from a US perspective. . . . No country has done more to create an international justice system than the US, or to keep itself outside the reach of that system. If nothing else, Scheffer's account establishes that for the US, even for the Clinton administration, this was about making international law for others.
— Philippe Sands

Financial Times

David Scheffer . . . provides the ultimate insider's life work, part autobiography, part documentary, all highly informative and enlightening. Indeed, much of the information contained in this text simply cannot be obtained from any other source.
— Matthew Kane

International Affairs

A revealing and valuable record of the U.S. role in the effort to entrench accountability for mass atrocities as a central principle in international affairs. . . . The centerpiece of Scheffer's book is a long and vivid account of the negotiations to set up a permanent International Criminal Court.
— Anthony Dworkin

Washington Post

David Scheffer, a former State Department official who was a major architect of the five new tribunals of the 1990s, takes a refreshingly different approach to American pride in his semi-autobiographical study of the new courts. He is critical of his president (Clinton), he is critical of his secretary of state (Albright), and, remarkably and refreshingly in an American memoir in the twenty-first century, he is critical of himself. . . . Scheffer . . . offers an impressively gripping and persuasive story of the complexity of his own undertakings: the cooperation across bureaucracies domestic and international, the development of law respectfully and creatively, and the furious indifference of circumstance to the best of intentions. In other words, he has written a good book of contemporary history.
— Timothy Snyder

New Republic

The story [Scheffer] tells is fascinating, for it makes clear that his principal adversary in the struggle for international justice wasn't African warlords or Balkan nationalists but members of his own government.
— Lawrence R Douglas

Times Literary Supplement

All the Missing Souls is a very personal history, an angry book by an often bitter man caught in the middle, conflicted in his loyalties, trying to advance the American agenda on international justice, while simultaneously having to tell potential allies in other countries that the agenda did not apply to Americans. . . . [T]he question of whether the establishment of international justice was actually worth it hangs over David Scheffer's narrative. . . . Justice—imperfect, partial, expensive—has been done and even been seen to be done. In these places, murderous rages have subsided. Some have reconciled. States have achieved stability. People are moving on. One of the reasons for this may be that in some cases justice was done. If so, David Scheffer can be proud of what he tried to do.
— Michael Ignatieff

New York Review of Books

As the first Ambassador at large for War Crimes Issues, David Scheffer was literally at the centre of what is the most fertile period in the development of international criminal law since the Nuremberg Trial. . . . His insights into the dynamics of the evolving US policy in international criminal justice are invaluable. Amongst the many textbooks in international criminal law, David Scheffer's book is refreshingly different. It makes good reading for specialists and for students, yet it is also highly accessible to a broad public. This is a must acquisition for the international criminal law bookshelf.
— William A. Schabas

PhD Studies in Human Rights

Scheffer (law, Northwestern Univ.; director, Ctr. for International Human Rights) provides a fascinating insider's account of the formation of the war crimes tribunals following atrocities in the Balkans, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Cambodia. Appointed by President Clinton as ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues, Scheffer also served as senior adviser to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright during this momentous period. He here describes the challenges of uncovering atrocities and holding perpetrators accountable through formal war crimes tribunals. What are the logistics, for instance, of arresting indicted war criminals such as Radovan Karadžić? Scheffer chronicles in captivating detail the diplomatic and political minefields that he and his colleagues navigated to help establish the International Criminal Court. Additionally, this book includes a series of poignant photographs and comprehensive notes. Most impressive, though, is the appendix of charts that compare modern war crimes tribunals. VERDICT A superb account and unique perspective on the subject, complementing works such as Carla Del Ponte's Madame Prosecutor: Confrontations with Humanity's Worst Criminals and the Culture of Impunity.—Lynne F. Maxwell, Villanova Univ. Sch. of Law Lib., PA

Library Journal

Firsthand account of the war crimes tribunals created in the 1990s to prosecute perpetrators of genocide and crimes against humanity. Beginning in 1993, Scheffer (Law/Northwestern Univ.) led efforts to create tribunals for the former Yugoslavia, the Balkans, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Cambodia--all of which culminated in the establishment of the International Criminal Court in 2002. Working first as senior advisor to Madeleine Albright, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, and then as U.S. ambassador-at-large for war-crimes issues in the Clinton administration, the author was deeply involved in every aspect of the quest to bring to justice political and military leaders responsible for the murder and mutilation of millions. Scheffer re-creates the period of murder and ethnic cleansing, describes the politicking required to convince nations to act and weighs the successes and missteps of diplomacy aimed at creating a new era of international justice. "I saw so much misery for so many years that my memories remain consumed by human suffering," he writes. His graphic descriptions of mutilated victims in hospital wards underscore the urgency of his pioneering work and explain his anger and frustration at the behavior of Western nations, which offered excuses and prevarications over apprehending war-crimes suspects, with the United States taking a "dangerously isolated" policy on the international court because of the Pentagon's fear that U.S. soldiers abroad might be prosecuted. From the indictment of Slobodan Milosevic in Kosovo to the trial of Charles Taylor in Sierra Leone, Scheffer recounts the highlights of this "truly international counterattack on impunity for the worst possible crimes." Reflecting after nearly a decade of battles, the author writes that international justice is the art of the possible and requires endless patience and persistence. May not appeal to a general audience, but an important resource for scholars and specialists in international law.

Kirkus Reviews