From the look of the presidential campaign, war crimes are back on the American agenda.
We really shouldn’t be surprised, because American officials got away with it last time — and in the case of the drone wars, continue to get away with it today. Still, there’s nothing like the heady combination of a “populist” Republican race for the presidency and a national hysteria over terrorism to make Americans want to reach for those “enhanced interrogation techniques.” That, as critics have long argued, is what usually happens if war crimes aren’t prosecuted.