Hang 'em high

The walls are closing in on war criminals this week, even if they’re still acting as though they’re the victims and not the perps.

Germany’s last court of appeals has tossed out the pathetic plea of John Demjanjuk that the case should be dropped because of health reasons. Oh, and the 89-year-old really never hurt anyone at Sobibór or Majdanek back in the good old days of Nazi rule. He was actually a victim, don’t you know?

Demjanjuk, who was stripped of his US citizenship and deported to Germany for prosecution earlier this year, will start the trial next month in Munich.

Meanwhile, at the Hague, Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb architect of genocide of Bosnian Muslims and Croats, has been boycotting his own war crimes trial for the past couple of days. However, presiding judge O-gon Kwon called Karadzic’s bluff Tuesday and ruled that the prosecution can continue with or without the mass-murderer in the dock.

The 64-year-old Karadzic, acting on his own behalf, says he needs WAAY more time to build his defense.

Yeah, because he's guilty, guilty, guilty.

Let me do some gloating that two examples of the worst humanity can vomit up on this earth are being brought to justice—no matter what the time lag between their crimes and their trials. Too many of their ilk have cheated retribution by either dying of old age in their beds, or (like Karadzic’s role model, Slobodan Milosevic) dying of old age in prison awaiting trial. (and Karadzic's trial is expected to last through 2012; that's with an abbreviated case.)

I don’t care how old they are or in what state of health—their crimes should be prosecuted and punished.