Dubya In The Dock

With the International Criminal Court having issued a warrant for the President of Sudan, the natural follow-up question is of course "Is George W. Bush next?"

An ex-UN prosecutor has said that following the issuance of an arrest warrant for the president of Sudan, former US President George W. Bush could -- and should -- be next on the International Criminal Court's list.

The former prosecutor's assessment was echoed in some respect by United Nations General Assembly chief Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann of Nicaragua, who said America's military occupation of Iraq has caused over a million deaths and should be probed by the United Nations.

"David Crane, an international law professor at Syracuse University, said the principle of law used to issue an arrest warrant for [Sudanese President] Omar al-Bashir could extend to former US President Bush over claims officials from his Administration may have engaged in torture by using coercive interrogation techniques on terror suspects," reported the New Zealand Herald.

The indictment of Bashir was a landmark, said Crane, because it paved a route for the court at The Hague to pursue heads of states engaged in criminality.

"Crane also said that the [Bashir] indictment may even be extended to the former president George W. Bush, on the grounds that some officials in terms of his administration engaged in harsh interrogation techniques on terror suspects which mostly amounted to torture," said Turkish Weekly.

"All pretended justifications notwithstanding, the aggressions against Iraq and Afghanistan and their occupations constitute atrocities that must be condemned and repudiated by all who believe in the rule of law in international relations," Brockmann told the Human Rights Council. "The illegality of the use of force against Iraq cannot be doubted as it runs contrary to the prohibition of the use of force in Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter. It sets a number of precedents that we cannot allow to stand."

It's an interesting exercise in what if, but that's all. Not even I expect the ICC to issue an arrest warrant for an American President. Nor do I expect Patrick Leahy's truth commission to get off the ground either. I fully expect Dubya to get away with every single horrible and illegal act he did over the last eight years with no recourse whatsoever.

Well, other than the recourse that the GOP is in exile right now. But the reality is that too many Democrats in Congress signed off on Bush's programs. Any smoking guns that are found will be aimed at the Dems too. Jay Rockefeller, Dianne Feinstein, John COnyers, Barney Frank, Nancy and Harry, possibly Leahy himself...and the Junior Senator from Illinois, one Barack Obama...what did he know?

Bush can't be taken down without removing most of the leadership in Congress on both sides of the aisle. They knew what Bush was doing. They knew exactly what he was doing. They allowed it to happen. They are just as complicit, particularly the Intelligence and Foreign Affairs committees.

Like I said, it'll never happen. After all, Obama has no problem keeping Bush's wiretap program to spy on Americans. He's already complicit in Bush's crimes.