Criminal Credibility

LUNARIAN: Ah, the executive power is a part of the legislative. Do your policemen also have to approve the local ordinances that they enforce?
TERRESTRIAN: Not yet - at least not in their character of constables. Generally speaking, though, all laws require the approval of those whom they are intended to restrain.
LUNARIAN: I see. The death warrant is not valid until signed by the murderer.
TERRESTRIAN: My friend, you put it too strongly; we are not so consistent.
Ambrose Bierce, quoting The Lunarian Astonished (Boston, 1803)

The American Secretary of State has hinted that Washington may one day deign to have dealings with the International Criminal Court, something the Bush gang refused to deign because of "fears that US officials could be open to arrest for alleged war crimes. The Pentagon was concerned that US soldiers might end up in court in The Hague", and we all know how deep and sincere was the Bush gang's concern for the well-being of US soldiers. Certainly there was little need to worry about the well-being of Cheney, Rumsfeld, Bolton, Rice or the Chimp-in-Command himself, given that, as a Foreign Office spokesbeing said, "the UK played a leading role in the negotiations and drafting of the Rome statute" which set up the International Criminal Court in such a fashion that, since its inception in the year before Operation Iraqi Liberation, it "has pursued dictators, mainly from Africa". The American Secretary of State has recently criticised African leaders for supporting the Sudanese president, which indicates a possible basis for future happy co-operation; particularly as some senior figures in the Pentagon now view the court as "a useful tool rather than a threat", rather like the United Nations, the United Kingdom, the Democratic Party, etc.