By definition it's something so heinous, just doing it constitutes a crime against not only the direct victim, but also against humanity as a whole. In a way, it is worse than war crimes because at least war crimes denotes belligerent nations are involved. War crimes would be torturing POWs or firebombing a village. Crimes against humanity would be the way Nazis treated the Jews or 9/11. Crimes against humanity are generally recognized by most people as evil. Generally, I do not think the United States engages in such. Do we torture terrorists? Likely, even if we don't, we are at least complicit in letting our allies do it. Do we attack from afar with soul-less killing drones? Yep. But until this story, I did not think the United States should be prosecuted for these type tactics. I still do not think we should for the drones or for torturing terrorists. However, I believe if anyone is still around that was responsible for infecting Guatemalans with syphilis, I think they should go on trial for crimes against humanity. I find this story to be absolutely disturbing. I cannot believe our government did it. Even though it seems as if authorities in central America were ok with it, if not participatory, this should not go unpunished.
-J
