Pres. Obama is hoping that we're goddamn idiots out here, still cowed by talk of 9-11

[BainsBane]

182. How do you think a prosecution could proceed?

Under what legal basis? I know there have been civil suits.

The reason the International Criminal Court exists is because political systems are ill-equipped to handle such crimes. Ultimately, the solution, I believe, lies in ratifying the treaty to join the ICC. I fully support anything we can do on DU to make that happen. It seems to me that expecting Obama to deliver what people want while refusing to act ourselves is not much different from supporting the absence of prosecution. Of course, signing on to the court doesn't guarantee those people here want to see indicated will be. It merely establishes international jurisdiction.

There is a concept in human rights law called universal jurisdiction. That is the basis for the Spanish Court's acting against Pinochet and in some other cases. The problem is getting courts in the countries where the indicted is located to abide by such legal rulings.