Obama: No Grounds to Probe Afghan War Crimes

The best defense for a war crime is to subcontract the job offshore. The AP reported:

Obama administration officials said Friday they had no grounds to investigate the 2001 deaths of Taliban prisoners of war who human rights groups allege were killed by U.S.-backed forces.

The mass deaths were brought up anew Friday in a report by The New York Times on its Web site. It quoted government and human rights officials accusing the Bush administration of failing to investigate the executions of hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of prisoners.

U.S. officials said Friday they did not have legal grounds to investigate the deaths because only foreigners were involved and the alleged killings occurred in a foreign country.

This would be a case for the United Nations or the International Criminal Court, but the U.S. disdains such interventions.

George W. Biden Speaks on Israel/Iran

Reuters reported:

Israel has a sovereign right to decide what is in its best interest in dealing with Iran's nuclear ambitions whether the United States agrees or not, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said in an interview on Sunday.

The U.S. has many tools to influence an Israeli attack on Iran. Vice President Joe Biden's comments sound Bushist. Here are but a few levers at America's disposal:

1. Threaten to withhold $2.77 billion in military aid.
2. Cancel our twice a year joint military planning (likely used to address of an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities)
3. Pull back U.S. assets in the international armada in the Persian Gulf (ships ready to contain any Iranian blowback)
4. Turn off the U.S. supplied & manned missile defense system in Israel.

Obama/Emanuael/Axelrod will do none of the above.