In bernbarts world, looking the other way (on the part of both Bushco and Obama)is not complicity. International war crimes conventions beg to differ.

"The United States participated actively and effectively in the negotiation of the Convention . It marks a significant step in the development during this century of international measures against torture and other inhuman treatment or punishment. Ratification of the Convention by the United States will clearly express United States opposition to torture, an abhorrent practice unfortunately still prevalent in the world today.

The core provisions of the Convention establish a regime for international cooperation in the criminal prosecution of torturers relying on so-called 'universal jurisdiction.'

**Each State Party is required either to prosecute torturers who are found in its territory or to extradite them to other countries for prosecution.**"

Ronald Reagan (ironically) 1984

"The US got itself involved on one side of a very confused, very long and tragic war. "

Yes, unfortunately, and I wonder what is our way out. What is our purpose there? Fighting terrorism is not a good reason to be there, as the different groups just realign move to another country. If the Afghan government was stable, it could give the U.S. a deadline to get out. How do your bring the war lords and Taliban into alliance, to treat women with respect, and to build a better future? Very complicated.

That about sums everything up: War Crimes are heinous and intolerable acts that all decent people reject; "anyone suspected of war crimes should be thoroughly investigated"; and War Criminals must not be allowed in any positions of authority . . . . except when the War Crimes in question are committed by Americans, in which case all investigations and accountability must be blocked and those who defended and even approved them are perfectly welcomed in our highest positions of authority (including, ironically, overseeing our war in Afghanistan).

I don't think GG could have been any clearer about his point, especially because he took the money quote from Clinton--"anyone suspected of war crimes should be thoroughly investigated". I won't go deeper into this argument; if you have any amount of interest in the issues discussed here, please read Glenn's column again.

no, we didn't "participate" in the massacre (except to the extent that we provided air support at Manzar al Saharif and had CIA agents on the ground)... but we were in the vicinity, working with troops who -- by virtue of our military superiority -- we could have "influenced" ... who we, by reports, watch load these prisoners into the cargo containers which took them to their mass grave.

As I recall this massacre was foretold by a previous massacre and the "technique" -- suffocation, hyperthermia, shooting prisoners trapped inside locked cargo containers was not "new" ... These prisoners were not "even" afforded a firing squad ... most suffocated ...

Europe erupted over this massacre -- There were at least two translated documentaries made (one was German, irrc, and another English) and released within the first year or so, which received extremely limited distribution within the United States.

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Over at TruthOut there is a (badly) translated review of an all-the-rage French book I had never heard of entitled:

Put on sale in March 2007 by the publishing house La Fabrique and with over 27,000 copies already sold, "L'insurrection qui vient" ["The Coming Insurrection"] (7 Euros), authored by the mysterious "Invisible Committee," is poised to become a real best seller. Its popularity also owes much to the active complicity of the government which has taken this invitation to "block everything" and to "form communes" by a possible "take-up of arms" quite seriously.

Apparently Glen Beck has been touting this book as "Obama's Hidden Agenda" -- as if -- but it's available on Amazon (in English) which means it's available elsewhere ...

Apparently not only will the revolution not be televised, it will not be "organized" as we have come to anticipate.

Looks interesting ... mentioned for those who might be interested.

Is it just me? I keep hoping for some sort of heroic law enforcement officer to do his job, and simply issue arrest warrants for those who have evidently broken the law as it is written. This would allow court proceedings to be held and evidence presented for both the prosecution and the defence, and a verdict rendered which eventually would get appealed all the way up to the Supreme Court.

This would essentially force the Supreme Court to assess the constitutionality of all the arguments put forward to justify the acts which have so destroyed the US system of constitutional democracy.

In my simpleminded belief system, I don't think it would be difficult to find and present a case that is stark and clear to everyone that the constitution has been violated.

Why is there no law enforcement? I always assumed that any police officer was duty-bound to arrest those who obviously break the law as it is written, not as the perpetrator wishes it was written. Also, even if the law is changed, that doesn't absolve one of guilt if the crime was committed prior to the change.

Is an murderer absolved of guilt if his lawyer says he can commit murder?

Is there any country in history that hasn't operated according to at least some basic slanted favoritism towards its own government structure?

Greenwald, can you seriously argue America can and should self-interrogate with the same vehemence it does to foreign governments?

In what world would this reality take place, and can I smoke some of what you're on?

Yes, I also support an independent commission to investigate the Bush crimes. But lets not delude ourselves into pretending the American government will ever interrogate itself like it does to foreign governments.

This is why your rants are delusional, Glenn. You pine for a mythical land that will never exist.

Accept that there will be compromises. That the legal reprocussions for crimes will not always be balanced. That the resources of the Obama Administration are limited, not infinite.

Then advocate for the battles we can win in the real world. Not Planet Greenwaldia, where national biases suddenly dissolve and America treats itself exactly the same as other countries. Yeah, that'll happen.