Master bullshitters

Americans have perfected the art of bullshitting confidently. I discovered that when I worked for an American company and use to attend meetings where American colleagues would take up the time to talk about nothing and do it with such conviction that sometimes I had to pinch myself just to be sure I wasn't daydreaming. Interestingly, nobody would challenge said individual because of the confidence they exuded. However later on around the water cooler, there would be discussions about what was actually said and a unanimous consensus would be reached that the colleague had said much ado about nothing.

Later on, when I lived in the States I realised that bullshitting confidently is part of the American DNA. An unedifying consequence of this is the inability to tell it like it is - there's a tendency to put a positive spin on everything for example, when a well known fast food chain announced they were opening more outlets, the subsequent job creation was labelled manufacturing instead of service. The Republican nominee for Vice President spun her foreign policy experience to include trips to Iraq, Ireland and Russia whereas the actuality was she can see Russia from Alaska and she could see Iraq when she visited the Alaskan National Guard at a border crossing in Kuwait. Her so called trip to Ireland was no more than a refueling stopover. The White House likes to talk of victory in Iraq despite the widely respected General Petraeus' opinions to the contrary. And who can forget Dubya's premature Iraq Mission Accomplished proclamation on the deck of US carrier in May 2003.

Why stop at al-Bashir?

Sudan is not a signatory to the ICC and yet the ICC's chief prosecutor has served a warrant for Omar al-Bashir's arrest, the first time the court has issued a warrant for a serving president. Now, the US of A is not a signatory to the ICC either so here's to hoping that the ICC's chief prosecutor plays fair and issues a warrant for the incumbent at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Tony Bliar, masquerading as a Middle East peace envoy shouldn't fool anyone and Britain is a signatory to the ICC so hopefully we can expect to see Tony Bliar and Dubya arraigned at the Hague in 2010.

The invasion of Iraq was illegal under international law so the ICC would be acting within its powers to issue arrest warrants for G&T. Whether they will have the gumption to do so remains to be seen, but thus far it seems as if the ICC is zealously prosecuting warlords from the DRC, a former president of Liberia and some Serbs. Isn't it high time they went after some high profile international law breakers from the west?!