3 Chi J Intl L 207
Roger Alford

If war is hell, then how do you make amends for the suffering of hell? Therein lies the conundrum of war reparations. International law can deal with revolutions, catastrophes, and lesser evils we euphemistically call acts of God. But when the fury of hell is unleashed on earth, international law quakes. The great irony of war is that the more catastrophic and widespread its destructive consequences, the less likely those caught in its path will ever be repaid for their injury. There simply is not enough salve to heal the wounds of war. War reparations are especially hard on the credibility and efficacy of international law because wars force victorious States to make hard choices between looking backward and repairing the harm caused to constituent victims and looking forward to a relationship with a potential strong and strategic ally. Just as "the conduct of [w]ar, in its great features, is. Policy itself," so too it often appears that war reparation schemes have almost everything to do with international relations, and very little to do with international law. The victorious States must either wholly embrace compensation to the victims, wholly embrace future peace and stability with the vanquished, or balance both and satisfy neither the victims nor the vanquished.