VDH is upset about the UN’s call for prosecuting former Bush administration officials:
An Austrian, Prof. Manfred Nowak, who serves as something called a U.N. special rapporteur in Geneva, is now warning the United States that former Bush administration officials should be tried and prosecuted for torture, including the lawyers who gave advice about statutes on interrogation.
I’m all for the prosecution of former Bush administration officials, up to and including George W. Bush himself, although torture is one of the least of their crimes. The trial, however, should be conducted by the American people, who actually have authority over those officials, not the United Nations. And I have no sympathy for Republicans – although VDH is actually a conservative Democrat, if I recall correctly – who cry about the UN going after their erstwhile political allies. The Republicans controlled the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives, but instead of pulling out of the UN and evicting the organization from New York City, they elected to kowtow to it. Congress didn’t declare war on Iraq or Afghanistan, instead Bush and Powell went to the UN and obtained permission authorizing the use of force.
So the Bush administration recognized the UN’s authority over its personnel and their actions. Therefore, these former officials have nothing to complain about. If you lick the jackboot, you shouldn’t be too surprised when it kicks you out of sheer contempt, if nothing else.