Popular Party not Popular

The Socialist won in Spain. The Popular Party alienated quite a few when they immediately pointed the finger at ETA for political purposes.

This is a huge set back for Bush as the Socialists have promised to withdraw their troops from Iraq. Apparently some 90% of Spanish oppose the war in Iraq, and when the President was casting his vote the other day he was greeted with shouts of 'Murderer'. I find this particularly interesting.

Can a president who sends his troops to an illegal war be guilty of murder? This is purely hypothetical and moralistic and does not take into account diplomatic immunity or retrospective immunity for the head of state (grr).

To start from the start, if a man (Bob) kills another man (Stan) he is guilty of murder.

If a Bob sends an assassin in his place is he still guilty of murder? The answer must be yes. The assassin is the extension of Bob.

The situation gets convoluted with the situation involves 'reasonable foresight'. If Bob told the assassin over a pint of beer that he wished Stan was dead, is it reasonably foreseeable that the assassin would kill Stan? That would probably depend on context and the way the conversation went - and whether the assassin was paid.

What if Bob was the president of a country that invaded Stan's country? Sending soldiers into another country fully armed (and paid) must surely entail some reasonable foresight that someone would end up dead - and probably some innocent civilians/collateral damage. Would Stan therefore be guilty of murder as the army may be analogous to the assassin? Would the situation change if the war was in self defense? What if the war was illegal?

It gets complicated, and that is why I think we have that rather large umbrella called 'crimes against humanity' and 'war crimes' in which these cases are judged. Of course, only the loser is judged - see Milosvech compared with Sharon, Bush II, Churchill, Stalin or Stormin' Norman.

I'm not really going to have a conclusion on this one. Too complicated. Too lazy.