The now infamous leaders of the coalition of willing criminals, Blair, Bush and Howard could face the prospect of an International Criminal Court investigation for alleged war crimes in Iraq.

Chief prosecutor at the Hague, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, stated that he would be willing to launch an inquiry and could envisage a scenario in which Blair and Bush could one day face charges. He urged Arab countries, including Iraq to sign up to the court to enable allegations against the invading coalition to be pursued.

Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations is said to be actively considering the proposal.

The U.S. however, refuses to accept the jurisdiction of any international legal authority over its citizens but is very happy to surrender its enemies to these courts. The overtly hypocritical attitude of the USA is not shared by Britain, which is a signatory, and has indicated its willingness to deal with any accusations of war crimes against its citizens.

Muslim nations view the court as a tool of NATO and the U.S. and cite the failure of the court to bring charges against powerful Western leaders.

The perceived bias of the Hague court has prompted Sudan and former Malaysian prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, to announce plans to set up an alternative war crimes tribunal to hear complaints against Western nations, particularly America, Israel and Britain!

Mr Moreno-Ocampo urged Arab nations to become involved in the legal process of the ICC in order to apply maximum pressure on accused Western nations/leaders.

Mr Moreno-Ocampo said it was still possible for an investigation to be launched into coalition actions if Iraqi officials became signatories and lodged their complaints with the court.

While international Lawyers remain sceptical that any charges brought against powerful western leaders would be successful, complaints from Arab and other nations would highlight the failure of western justice and severely compromise the 'moral authority’ of the West when taking other powerful nations to task over their human rights record.

See:

http://washingtontimes.com/world/20070318-121749-6686r.htm