It may be the opinion of the entire legal apparatus of the US government. That apparatus couldn't be further removed from the American People if it were on the moon.

Bolton is just one of the many criminals from the Bush Regime that must be brought to justice.

Keep it up Mr. Monbiot. Our apparatus is bigger that their apparatus.

It figures!! The citizens arrest was about as successful as the war was. Besides, the little people are the ones that are always called to account for what they have done, while the guilty big shots get medals, promotions, and speeches.

Everything Hitler did was legal.

"This is not my personal opinion, this is the opinion of the entire legal apparatus of the German government."

What was the difference again?

Bolton bolts - and I hope this becomes 'must do' behavior for him abroad. .

It's just a matter of time!

Thank the stars for true patriots like Mr. Benoit. We need to do just this enmasse so we can push the security guards out of the way & serve the people's warrants against ALL these criminals.

"Mr. Bolton said the war [in Iraq] was legal, partly because Iraq had failed to comply with a key and binding UN resolution after the end of the Gulf War in 1991."

Well that is between the UN and Iraq Mr. Bolton, not the USA and Iraq. What business is it of the USA if ANY nation goes against any UN resolutions or policies? If the UN wanted to send forces into Iraq to enforce those resolutions that is fine. If the UN decided not to enforce those resolutions, that is fine too; but this decision by the UN one way or the other is none of the business of the USA Government.

What makes the Iraq fiasco perpetrated by the USA an international crime is the fact that the USA took the law into its own hands by invading Iraq when the USA was not authorized to do so by the UN. In fact, the UN told the USA to wait until the inspectors returned from Iraq to see what the reports were before acting like judge jury and executioner. The USA should have taken heed because this fiasco has cost the USA about 3 trillion dollars, not to mention a global headache. Of course, the USA will get away with this decision. The only punishment that I see for the USA invading Iraq is an economic recession. I guess that I will have to settle for this punishment, although I wish the punishment for the USA was more severe.

It was the legal opinion of the 'entire US government' (whatever the hell that means) that torture is legal too.

Good on ya Mr. Monbiot, it at least keeps these war criminals under pressure and possibly raises public awareness. But did we really expect agents of The State to allow the legal arrest of one of their own? The police are agents of oppression from the State, not looking out for 'we the people'.

My friends, WE HAVE THE NUMBERS....IS IT FEAR THAT KEEPS US FROM ACTING?? Fear did not stop the Bolivians from regaining the right to rainwater. What's stopping us from regaining ALL of our rights? What's stopping US from ending this illegal war and this criminal administration? If it's FEAR, maybe we have no claim to those rights.

Way to go, Monbiot. Nice try.

Allan Nairn did something like this a while back. He served papers on some terrorist general we had supported in Central America, when the thug was speaking at Harvard.

More efforts like this are badly needed.

Definitely an "A" for effort. Anyone know where GWB is speaking next?

I suppose the odious Mr. Bolton has at least demonstrated the veracity of the adage "make Hay while the sun shines".

Unfortunatley Bolton was the only U N ambassadore with guts and one of the few True American Patriots left.
What has happened to the patriots of ww11 there are to few of us left

Yeah right, jerklo. Whadyado, suffer a head wound to make you so friggin' STUPID?

Nice attempt Monbiot, but why announce such action prior to carrying it out? They were ready and waiting. Would it not have been more effective to try to pull this off by surprise?

Just to make a correction here: Actually, the Bush Administration violated a UN resolution itself by invading Iraq without the approval of the UN Security Council, nor the majority of the nations represented in the UN, so Bolton, once again, is wrong.

And it's also true that lawyers for the Bush White House cannot justify this illegal incursion nor the torture of prisoners of war, no matter how they choose to define or spin it. After all, everything Hitler did was legal, according to German law as written by the Nazis.

jerflo13 [May 28th, 2008 5:44 pm], where were you stationed with the SS during WWII?

"Mr Bolton said the war was legal, partly because Iraq had failed to comply with a key and binding UN resolution after the end of the Gulf War in 1991."

By golly, I betcha nations that have failed to abide by UN resolutions are now nervously awaiting the USA to turn its avenging power on them.

"Mr Bolton said the war was legal, partly because Iraq had failed to comply with a key and binding UN resolution after the end of the Gulf War in 1991."

Eh? Saddam fully complied with the U.N. but it was George W. Bush who purloined the documents on the way to the U.N. and, proclaiming them to be all lies, continued the obliteration of Iraq.
As I recall, it was the opinion of the U.N. Secretary General that Mr. Bush's war on Iraq was "illegal."
I'm sure that the ICC and the Hague will enjoy putting Mr. Bolton and the entire legal apparatus of the US government on trial for these war crimes of the New American Century.

Would that not be obstruction of justice, by the guards blocking an arrest from taking place?

Guess it's ok though, because no matter how long it takes, or how it is carried out, Karma ALWAYS has the final say. And in extreme cases like the Bush criminals, she usually wields a rather large sledge!!

Great effort, Monbiot! Keep vigilant, and keep writing the terrific articles and opinion pieces you do so well.

Why is Bolton still living in the UK and what in the hell is he doing there?

Withdrawn Consent May 28th, 2008 5:05 pm

Everything Hitler did was legal.

True.

This brings to mind a meeting I was at a few nights ago to repeal the Real ID act here in Maine. At the beginning, one of the organizers spoke about watching similar things happen when she was a girl in Germany during the Nazi era. She pointed out the fact that everything the Nazis did was legal because the laws were there to back them up.

Little by little the Nazis here are writing the laws to enable them to do what the Nazis in Germany did.

Good on Mr. Monbiot. Hopefully his example will stir others to act.

Hopefully, the actions of George Monbiot are the first of many directed at the lackeys from Dubya, Cheney, & Co.

John Bolton's threadbare legal cover unfortunately implicates the lawyers rather than protects him. The arrests could start with all the government lawyers. No wonder there has been no impeachment. There is no shocking legal opinion of the US government that has not been paid for by large amounts of money. Those legal opinions of the US government were all hired and paid for by the GOP Nazi party. If they did not agree they were fired. Anyone slightly to the left of Genghis Khan in the higher legal echelons is purged or blocked. American Law is always equivalent to bought opinion, although maybe expressed in completely unintelligible language, bereft of context, reason and sense, apart from the money concerns behind it. The Law and Judiciary are no longer an independent power and bulwark for the US constitution, as if they ever were. United by class and money concerns John Bolton and his government lawyers stand loyally together in being a law unto themselves. An American lawyer and his thirty pieces of silver are not easily parted.

Israel has rarely paid any attention at all to numerous U.N. resolutions. Perhaps Bolton thinks we should invade.

Bolton needs a red hot poker up his fascist ass. Too bad Monbiot wasn't toting one.

An independent judiciary would be our safeguard, but we haven't had one to any real degree in the last few years, and it's not likely we will in the next 20 years. We progressives will therefore have to use the "lovely" doctrine of a unitary executive if Barak Obama gets to the White House to get some justice. Maybe we should just have him rule by decree until we can impeach most of the phonies currently pretending to be real judges on the federal judiciary.

Those who live by the unitary executive doctrine should be allowed to perish by it.

Some even say an independent judiciary was a hope in Germany until the Nazis turned it into an organ for carrying its warped agenda by allowing to stand laws that were clearly against even Germany's legal tradition.

It's not the opinion of the entire US legal system that the war is legal, just the cronies put in place by Bush, to obfuscate and block the efforts for hearings under oath. You know, the ones who say we don't "torture". By legal, Bolton means only that they've gotten away with high crimes agains humanity, so far.

A big, warm thank you for the efforts of Congressman Wexler, Ralph Nader, and Mr. Vincent Bugliosi, (a quick list, there are many others, globally, who speak with reason, too) for publicly demanding accountability, through US law, for the acts of TREASON committed to bring this war about.

If Bolton were under oath, he'd have perjured himself with his Hay response. As Monbiot addresses, Bolton is a PNAC-NWO Nazi, a liar (no surprise there), and an accessory to murder: even leaving out 9/11, there are the rough minimum of 100,000 Iraqis and 4,000 US servicemen killed for private interest profits, and the enslavement of other sovereignties.

We must never forget the Golden Rule.

"Those that have the gold make the rules"

tobiasaurusrex May 28th, 2008 7:25 pm ...91,000 is the actual body count according to this.....http://www.iraqbodycount.org/, but the more likely figure is over 1,000,000 acccording to this......http://www.opinion.co.uk/Newsroom_details.aspx?NewsId=78. ...and it's all on the head of this murdering, genocidal administration! Why are we all not in the streets?

argus t, you absolutely got that right!

willybill, mostly because we're working two jobs so we can
pay for gas to go to the jobs. Also because most Americans
don't give a shit unless it effects them personally.

Hey, guys and gals, how come a British journalist has to show you what to do? It's a bit humiliating, isn't it?

300 million Yanks making citizens arrests of all the Bushamorons would surely slow George down, wouldn't it? Once they're all put away, 300 million Yanks could then sit down and, after fixing their political system, turn their country into a real symbol of peace, a real beacon on the hill.

Now that would be a Manifest Destiny worth having!

www.dangerouscreation.com

come on, your eyes light up when you hear that someone in england attempts what you have sworn to do to the obvious war criminals that live in your country and can be approached on a daily basis, tough talk no action by americans, maybe i should put my faith in pelosie, you are destroying the world and you are relying on a guy at a book festival in south west england to bring people to justice. sounds very proactive!!!!!

It's just a huge Israeli organized crime syndicate. Study how crime bosses Meyer Lansky and Hyman Lerner ran their U.S. operations in the 1950s and you'll understand how it's now international and being run out of Israel. There are no nation-states anymore. There are only geographical areas with specific conditions and bodies of laws to be subverted in the interests of criminal enterprise. Who are the major stockholders of the largest multinational corporations? These same criminals. Henry Kissinger should have had his testicles stuffed down his throat years ago. Instead, he's attending lavish private parties and "consulting."

It was the opinion of the entire legal apparatus of Nazi Germany that gassing Jews was lawful and necessary. Bolton must be taken into custody , the security guards at the Hay festival must be prosecuted as war criminal accessories after the fact. Don't let these scumbags slide.

Hey decrepittex,

It took you about two sentences to write a total contradiction!!!

"willybill, mostly because we're working two jobs so we can
pay for gas to go to the jobs. Also because most Americans
don't give a shit unless it (sic) effects them personally."

Doesn't the fact that you're forced to work two jobs so that you can pay for gas to go to the jobs affect you personally?

PM

'Mr Bolton said the war was legal, partly because Iraq had failed to comply with a key and binding UN resolution after the end of the Gulf War in 1991.'

The invasion of Iraq NEVER had UN sanction,and so was illegal. Or have people forgotten the efforts made by the patsy Colin Powell? These failed to win UN support. But lying is what Bolton is accustomed to doing.

"decrepittex May 28th, 2008 7:42 pm
willybill, mostly because we're working two jobs so we can
pay for gas to go to the jobs. Also because most Americans
don't give a shit unless it effects them personally."

That's what I tell my students. I'm an American History teacher and I compare public opinion now compared to the Vietnam War. Why aren't people protesting this war like they did in Vietnam? Polls show it's equally unpopular. Because unless we American's are uncomfortable in our lives, no one cares...unfortunately. However, eventually, with our corporate candidates to pick from, I feel it will get to that point eventually...

More on Bolton:

On April 9, 2008, during a phone call to Mordechai Vanunu, I asked him if he it were true [as reported to me by reliable sources] that just prior to his release from 18 years in an Israeli jail in 2004, John Bolton then Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security for the George W. Bush Administration traveled to Israel to demand they not allow Vanunu to leave Israel because it would embarrass this Administration that was hunting for WMD's in Iraq while ignoring them in Israel.

Vanunu replied that he had heard the very same thing but couldn't prove it.

Vanunu has offered much more in his video messages taped in 2005, 2006 and 2008 which are freely streaming on WAWA under VANUNU ARCHIVES:

http://www.wearewideawake.org/

ultimately 'our' (humanity's) safeguard could rest in the hands of the ICC in the hague. if the dissolution of yugoslavia entailed ethnic cleansing and 'crimes' against humanity, then what exactly has been occurring in iraq?

crimes against humanity are not nullified as time goes by. in the near future, after the neo cons have lost power (and credibility - assuming mccain isn't the next pres), the international community will pronounce judgment upon the guilty.. it's just a matter of time...

curmudgeon99 May 28th, 2008 5:06 pm - exactly.

'Bolton bolts - and I hope this becomes 'must do' behavior for him abroad. .
It's just a matter of time!'

bolten and others - just a matter of time...
---------------------------------------------

very encouraging news, thank you mr monboit.

"A citizen's arrest can be carried out under certain circumstances by a member of the public, if they believe a person had carried out a crime, under the Serious and Organised Crime and Police Act 2005."

these thugs (bushco) are going to have a problem traveling abroad. when a leftist coalition comes to power in any of a handful of european countries, the police will no longer be intervening (perhaps w/ a legislative mandate that identifies the criminals and their staffs) on behalf of globalcorp. and it will be too irresistible for MSM in america, one detention (rumsfeld, cheney, gonzalez, powell, Wolfie, pearl) could snowball quickly and persuade american citizens to try the bastards here in USA.

war criminals deserve Nuremberg trials..

...peace...

decrepittex May 28th, 2008 7:42 pm..... I go along with your second explanation. One cannot change the nature of a populace that has been conditioned and de-educated for over two hundred years...at least not over night. As far as the first one goes, if you are worried about your job and how expensive gas is as opposed to fighting for the few freedoms we have left, an end to this war that is slaughtering men, women and children and an end to the Federal Reserve System that through a debt based currency system has been stealing your money and your descendents future earnings....well, THEIR STRATEGY has worked superbly!

I hope someday all of BushCo will have to hang within a small Neocon "safe zone" near Crawford Ranch, or risk arrest by the people's actual police departments, and prosecution according to law in the people's courts.

Yeah, that's the ticket, not House Arrest, Ranch Arrest!

AD writes "An independent judiciary would be our safeguard, but we haven't had one to any real degree in the last few years, and it's not likely we will in the next 20 years."

I can appreciate the thought, but the fact is that, in the US (if thats the place you are referring to), the judiciary has
NEVER stood up to the executive on foreign policy. The Supreme Court has had various opportunities to consider cases in which the President might be found guilty of waging an illegal war, e.g., this happened in the case of Vietnam. They choose not to look at those cases.

Frankly I would be surprised if there is any case in the history of the world where the judiciary declared the executive's foreign policy to be criminal.

Of course, the fact that something has never happened before does not mean it can't happen in the future, or that we should stop trying to make it happen. It just sounds like a long shot, even under the best of circumstances. Suppose Cheney makes an accidental stop in Spain, or Vermont, and is detained and charged. The US would simply threaten Spain (or Vermont) with nuclear annihilation and that would be the end of it.

......way to step-up Mr. Monbiot....quite impressive, indeed!!....ha ha...how classic is that...Bolton narrowly escapes being brought to justice by an ordinary, everyday citizen at some obscure, outdoor festival...that's great! Hopefully the news of today's events will permeate around the Bushite-circles and put all the other present day Neo-con criminals on notice that if they even dare think about venturing out into the 'real-world' (outside their comfy, insulated power-elite enclaves)....that they, too might be served by a true patriot and be brought to justice for any and all of their evil, maniacal misdeeds executed in the name of their greedy, power-mongering ambitions and selfish interests. But of course, these power-brokers probably aren't too scared in this regard when they see the likes of Kissenger and James Baker still held unaccountable for all their enacted illegal crimes and atrocities.....but still, one can only hope that one day, one of these goons will be held to account by the very everyday citizens they have betrayed....Praises to Monbiot!!!

Ok, here's the deal.

On the FOURTH OF JULY the first million go to the ranch in Texas, the second million go to D.C. as close to the steps as can be. We will serve the "citizen's arrest" warrent at noon. BE THERE.

That is all. Thank you.

P.S. Got a better idea?

The UN did not authorize the US invasion of Iraq. Bolton and the gang are war criminals.

Handcuffs I say ! As many as are necessary to bring us back from the point of no return and put these criminals into the basement (I heard there is a room down under the House or the Senate). Pack them in there, bring them to trial. Don't do unto them as they would do unto others exactly(we're better than that) but gees lets get ourselves back on track. Don't ask me what track exactly because I've been studying our history. let's say back a ways when we had some hope of being considered the good guys.

Bush, Cheney, Bolton, Rumsfeld, Gates, Rice, Powell, Blair, and others of their ilk all deserve to rot in a prison cell.

If you are going to make a citizen's arrest on a war criminal or other government dork, you quietly check to see what the procedure is, and get whatever paperwork is required. Then, you quietly lay for the guy and as he walks past, you serve him and arrest him. End of story.

You do not go to the papers and television and announce your intention a day or so previously, then stand in a conspicuous place so you can be detained.

Either Mr. Benoit's IQ is smaller than his hat size, or this was just a publicity stunt.

What is needed to get any of these clowns is a reenactment of the scene where the villagers storm Frankenstein's castle to get the monster. Fat chance.