Tell it to the Marines

The most wicked and damaging thing Bill Clinton did in his eight years as president, and he did several such things, was signing the treaty creating the International Criminal Court.

Bush repudiated the signature, of course, and the treaty has never been submitted to the senate. But there isn't much doubt that a subsequent president conceivably could do so. A President Hillary Clinton surely would, as would have a President Kerry; one wonders what a President McCain would do.

During his term, Clinton himself was investigated for alleged violations of international law for his acts in bombing the former Yugoslavia. The prosecutor, exercising discretion, declined to pursue the matter (this preceded the ICC, but the principle is similar).

Many people cheered when the dread Augusto Pinochet was indicted by a Spanish judge, and there seems to be no end to efforts to try him for his supposed crimes against humanity.

I don't argue that Pinochet didn't murder people. I'll accept that he did. What I argue is, Saddam, Stalin, Castro and any number of others murdered people, too, but they would never be prosecuted, because they are favored.

More importantly, the U.S. president, and for that matter, the leader of every nation, must always be free to go to war. If you want to hang him (or her) for doing it, fine. Defeat them in war and hang them. If you can't defeat them in war, then give it up. Crimes within the jurisdiction of your government are one thing, but your whining complaints about policies with which you disagree are entirely something else.

The busybody Spaniards are at it again, wanting the option to prosecute U.S. soldiers. Sorry, Santiago. Tell it to the Marines.