Sending a signal

There is the story doing the rounds of British lawyers trying to get a warrant for the arrest of Israeli defence minister, Ehud Barak, for war crimes in Gaza. That would establish a lovely precendent and it might turn out that it is sufficient to be just a mass murderer, rather than having to be a mass murderer and someone who America doesn't like, to get yourself hauled before the law.

What it would certainly do is it would make a number unsavoury characters such as Henry Kissenger, George W Bush, Dick Cheney, Tony Blair, Ehud Olmert, Rumsfeld, Bibi etc etc etc, extremely wary when it comes to planning their next trip. Moreover, it really would send out a signal to all and sundry that we are living in a fair and just world. That is what it would do but, of course, it is destined to remain hypothetical and we are destined to see those who do not agree with "Uncle Sam" being made accountable for their crimes, either real or perceived, while Washington's own and Washington's friends continue to ensure that, for some at least, crime really does pay.