Friday’s second worst Washington Post op-ed

is this piece by Michael Kinsley. The column makes the left’s point du jour that we lack standing to complain about Saddam Hussein’s violations of international law (which he dishonestly implies are limited to things like showing photographs of prisoners of war) because we ourselves feel free to ignore international law. But Kinsley fails to point to any action we have taken against Saddam Hussein that violates international law. He complains that we went to war without the consent of the U.N. Security Council, but does not show, or even claim, that this violates international law. Kinsley does say that the imprisonment of Afghans at Guantanamo Bay violates international law, but he does not demonstrate any violation. The status of these Afghans under international law is a complicated issue that Kinsley evidently prefers not to address, lest it stand in the way of his cynical effort to imply that our willingness to abide by international law is comparable to that of Saddam Hussein.

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