the fog of war

on tuesday, we had two incredible speakers, a couple from berkeley, who are defense attorneys. i was inspired by them for several reasons.
1. for the first time this trip, the speakers expressed similar thoughts to mine. while they are critical of the icty and the "international community," they still retained a lot of hope in its potential and in my generation's role in changing it into a more just system.
2. though i've often thought the role of a defense attorney to be one i could do, i struggle with the thought of defending guilty criminals. this couple helped me realize that the role of a defense attorney is different; it is founded on the fundamental belief in providing a just trial. at the icty, few cases are acquitted. this couple was the defense team for one of the only "winning" trials. the prosecution in this case never argued that the defendants were the actual perpetrators of the crime. this is a mistake that many come to the icty with...the belief that the defendants are already guilty. we can see this in the emphasis on bringing justice to the victims.
3. it is not unrealistic to be optimistic.
4. they mentioned the film, the fog of war, viewable at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8653788864462752804, which is great.