This article takes the starting point in an examination of the case study of accountability for UK war crimes in Iraq, to engage recent developments in the transitional justice field. The article observes that while some passage of time in the context of war-related crimes tends to be a precondition for any kind of justice, the passage of time can easily end up complicating and obscuring the prospects for justice. The article demonstrates how accountability at the domestic level for these crimes has become increasingly implausible with time, partly due to the development of a prevailing narrative of ‘cycles’ of ineffective investigations (and re-investigations) that have become politically loaded and increasingly unpopular especially in what could be labelled the ‘pro-military establishment’.

本文以对英国在伊拉克战争罪行问责的案例研究为出发点，以了解过渡时期司法领域的最新发展。文章观察到，虽然在与战争有关的罪行的背景下，时间的流逝往往是任何正义的先决条件，但时间的流逝很容易最终使正义的前景变得复杂和模糊。这篇文章表明，随着时间的推移，国内层面对这些罪行的问责如何变得越来越不可信，部分原因是流行的无效调查（和重新调查）“循环”的发展已经成为政治负担并且越来越不受欢迎，尤其是在什么可以标记为“亲军事机构”。