This is precisely why the US refused to subject itself to the jurisdiction of the ICC

"Blair faces war crimes trial after Iraq war". [Link via Andrew Stuttaford on The Corner.]

LONDON (Reuters) - A group of lawyers aims to prosecute Prime Minister Tony Blair for war crimes at the new International Criminal Court (ICC) if an Iraqi war goes ahead.

I'm not even going to comment, beyond a derisive raspberry in the ICC's general direction.

Countdown to Ecstasy. I hope.

Also via Drudge: Fleetwood Mac's new album, "Say You Will", to be released on April 15th.

Is it possible I misjudged Richard Gere?

I've been unkind in my reviews of Gere's work over the years (let's face it, his idea of conveying intense emotion seems to consist solely of blinking furiously), but I have to give the man his due. He was little short of superb as Billy Flynn in Chicago (so far above what I normally expect from him I may be giving him more credit than he deserves, but he was starting with a negative balance. I'm trying to be fair here.). Then I found a link to this story on Drudge:

Richard Gere stunned fellow liberals Monday by suggesting that President Bush is doing a better job of fighting AIDS than President Bill Clinton did.

Introduced by Sharon Stone at a fund-raiser at Cipriani 42nd Street for the American Foundation for AIDS Research, the "Chicago" star hailed Bush for his State of the Union proposal to contribute $15 billion toward the AIDS battle in Africa and the Caribbean. Gere then addressed the track record of Bush's predecessor in the White House.

"I'm sorry, Sen. [Hillary] Clinton, but your husband did nothing about AIDS for eight years," Gere said.

Refreshing to see Hollywood does not necessarily march in lockstep. But I'm betting it didn't win Gere any friends.

Just staggering.

Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs links to this WaPo story of amazing incompetence on the part of our beloved FBI.

The Saudi embassy quietly provided the wife of a terror suspect a passport and transit out of the United States in November, after she was subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury in New York investigating her husband's possible links to the al Qaeda terrorist network, diplomatic and law enforcement sources said.

And both sides are outraged at each other, of course. And the moral would be if you're going to detain people indefinitely, you'd better keep an eye on them. You'd think the FBI would know that.

France: not our ally. But you knew that.

This time it's not even just my opinion; behold as Richard Perle delivers the exceptionally harsh smackdown [link via Steven Den Beste at USS Clueless]--

WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- France is no longer an ally of the United States and the NATO alliance "must develop a strategy to contain our erstwhile ally or we will not be talking about a NATO alliance" the head of the Pentagon's top advisory board said in Washington Tuesday.

Good Lord. He actually said 'erstwhile'. Like the divorce papers just came through in the mail.

Perle went on to question whether the United States should ever again seek the endorsement of the U.N. Security Council on a major issue of policy, stressing that "Iraq is going to be liberated, by the United States and whoever wants to join us, whether we get the approbation of the U.N. or any other institution."

"It is now reasonable to ask whether the United States should now or on any other occasion subordinate vital national interests to a show of hands by nations who do not share our interests," he added.

Pinch me.

Where does this leave the Harry Potter fans?

Also according to The Onion, the popularity of LOTR threatens the country's relationship with Star Wars. How cruel to have to choose one camp or the other.

Breaking MLB news

The Onion reports the Yankees have signed every player in Major League baseball. So this would be different from every other season how, exactly?