He sez this, he sez:

Time was, I could mutter darkly about the arrogance of universal human rights violations and “rule from Brussels” and all of that. Now I say, bring it on. My own country has asserted its own universal jurisdiction, but a much more grandiose and damaging version of it. You don’t see Belgian judges conquering entire countries in the name of “freedom” or “benevolent hegemony.” Given a choice between grabbing the odd retired official from an airport, jailing him in comfort and allowing him access to counsel and a public trial, and triggering the killing of tens to hundreds of thousands and the displacement of millions, while shoving hundreds of prisoners into legal black holes for abuse, the lesser evil kind of jumps out at me.

Inspired by the latest outrage. I wouldn’t object, but it seems unlikely. For all its unilateralism, the Bush administration has been very good about getting lots of partners for its riskiest ventures – see, for example, the Coalition of the Willing. When the CIA sets up secret prisons, it does so with the consent of the foreign governments who host them. When the CIA wanted to transport suspects to these facilities, or outsource them to the facilities of torture-friendly foreign governments, it could only have done so with the high-level of cooperation of most European governments (until the shit hit the fan, of course, when began intense competition for the Claude Raines Memorial Gambling Awareness Award). None of which makes any of it right, or legal, or legitimate, but all of which would make it really awkward for anyone who proposed to actually put anyone who knew anything on trial and, like, let them talk. For this reason, I’d peg the chances of seeing Bush in the Hague slightly below the chances of seeing Hu Jintao, or Pooty-Poot, or any leader of a powerful country who regularly tortures and detains without trial, there – so somewhere south of “fat fucking chance”. The banality of evil strikes again.

That said, there was a time when politicians – sitting Preznits, even! – could be held accountable for high crimes against the Constitution getting a blow job from a chubby girl. If elected officials won’t do their duty (for reasons why this might be, see the previous paragraph), there is still good old American legal system. People are working on this. Yoo Ewe Ess Ay! Ewe Ess Ay!