“CRIMINALLY NEGLIGENT MANSLAUGHTER”
by Tom Arnold, ©2020
(May 13, 2020) — Upon googling the term “manslaughter,” you will see that the definition of CRIMINALLY NEGLIGENT MANSLAUGHTER is that it occurs where death results from serious negligence, or in some jurisdictions, recklessness. A high degree of negligence is required to warrant criminal liability. It occurs where there is a failure to act when there is a duty to do so, or a failure to perform a duty owed, which leads to death. It is most common in the case of professionals who are grossly negligent in the course of their employment. AN EXAMPLE IS WHERE A DOCTOR FAILS TO NOTICE A PATIENT’S OXYGEN SUPPLY HAS BECOME DISCONNECTED AND THE PATIENT DIES (R v Adomako).
Note that this says nothing about the doctor trying to deny or cover up his/her criminal liability (contrary to what took place in the below briefly-described incident in Benghazi just prior to the 2012 general election).
On September 11, 2012, an attack took place on the United States consulate/mission in Benghazi. Four Americans including our Ambassador were killed. He had asked for more security in the days and weeks leading up to the attack, as incidents were beginning to occur. Not only were the Ambassador’s requests for additional security disregarded, but on the night of the actual attack, there was an order for American forces nearby in the Mediterranean area NOT to send troops in to Benghazi to fight the attackers. In other words, our troops were ordered to “STAND DOWN.” Unless I am mistaken, the order came from then-president Obama and/or Secretaries of Defense Leon Panetta and State Hillary Clinton upon Obama passing the buck to them and failing to perform his duty owed as Commander-in-Chief. After a night’s sleep, Obama flew to Las Vegas for a campaign rally. A cover-up, falsely blaming the incident on a movie which was alleged to be derogatory toward Islam, was immediately concocted by the Obama administration and sent to the news media. Even the families of the four Americans who had been murdered were told this and lied to. Obama was re-elected two months later.
In my view, the Benghazi incident would have been, in the REAL WORLD instead of the get-out-of-jail free world in Washington, DC, a slam-dunk case of criminally negligent manslaughter by commander-in-chief Obama and possible others. Unfortunately, a House Committee investigating the Benghazi incident did not reach this conclusion (or practically any other conclusions of note).
How, you ask, does all of this relate to the coronavirus and China? As far as I am concerned, it, in fact, is very relevant, but on an international level. It appears now that China knew about the virus as early as October 2019. They proceeded to get their people out of the Wuhan area. Some traveled to other countries throughout the world including the United States. The Chinese began buying up face masks and other protective gear. Probably in the person of their “president,” Xi Jinping, they lied to the World Health Organization about the virus, and the WHO, in turn, lied to everyone else in the world.
In my mind, if there is any international law (the International Criminal Court at The Hague?) worthy of its meaning and function, THEN THIS SICK EPISODE SHOULD BE VIEWED AS NOTHING LESS THAN AN ACT OF WORLDWIDE CRIMINALLY NEGLIGENT MANSLAUGHTER (IF NOT MURDER).
I’ll bet that no one in our federal government sees it this way. So, what is the International Court good for? And the World Health Organization? NATO? Our military? The accomplishment, even if a bit tainted now, of Making America Great Again? Face it, China is NOT our good friend or a good citizen of the world. They must pay and pay dearly for what they’ve done, whether or not you want to call it CRIMINALLY NEGLIGENT MANSLAUGHTER.