i like the way the USSC refers to the various parties .. as in when they say “the position advocated by the United States ” ..as if they [the USSC] wuz somekind of disinterested third party ..

imo …bush is lucky the USSC is not ready to enforce/apply ICJ decisions here … it might e the only thing that keeps him from being jailed as a war criminal on down the pike …by trial in the ICJ…

Posner has snarky counterpoint to JB over at slates “convictions” btw ..

No job, no clear performance record, no security clearance, no ability to use your skills. Personal and family consequences were sometimes catastrophic and intentionally so. In today’s employment market, no one discloses their questions, they simply don’t hire when they have a doubt. WingNut Welfare is considerably more generous than disparate and ill-focused progressive efforts and far less lucrative.

That’s a vulnerability and disparity Cheney leveraged. He expected and planned for professional resistance to his efforts. He prepared for it thoroughly and dispensed retribution ruthlessly. Employees normally outside the reach of political firings, like park police, were re-assigned or fired within twenty-four hours of having spoken out of turn. The same with lawyers, intelligence and budget analysts, and other professional bureaucrats. Monica Goodling’s blind submission to authority and evilly jejeuene hiring and firing weren’t the exception, they were the rule.

Cheney circumvented procedures and invented his own. He imposed outside leadership and planted acolytes in key agencies throughout the government. (Many are still there.) He squeezed the grapevine. The recent story about the resignation of Gitmo’s chief prosecutor illustrates the dynamic. He opposed the administration’s lawless efforts to ensure convictions of long-held detainees, regardless of the evidence. His chain of command was jiggered and rejiggered until he reported to his bureaucratically mortal enemy and was forced to resign, give in, or be fired. The navy lawyer who won the Hamdan case at the Supreme Court – normally a career high – was assured that he had just ended his Navy career and resigned. Ad nauseum.

And where does the professional employee go when they have serious doubts about the efficacy or legality of political appointee conduct? His or her boss, the departmental inspector general, the Department of Justice. Just who would that be at the EPA or GSA? Reread this blog’s archives for the past six months, or those at TPM or Harpers, and count the stories about corruption in those places and the picture becomes clearer. Cheney doesn’t just imagine himself a master bureaucrat, he is one.

iraqi gov’t ’welcomed it’

http://wkbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=8090155

http://english.aljazeera.net/N…..6E4290.htm

you might have seen this already in siun’s thread last night.
aljazeera from last night.

http://english.aljazeera.net/N…..6E4290.htm

True. To wit: Executive Privilege.