So what else is new?

For anyone interested to know, the United Nations published a report yesterday in which U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan suggests that U.S. led "coalition forces" and Iraqi authorities may be violating international law in their treatment of thousands of prisoners in Iraq's jails. Moreover, the U.N. report suggests that investigations into torture, and abuse, of those held in Iraqi Ministry jails have yet to be made public, as promised.

This is a major step for the U.N as it is coming to realize where there's smoke there's fire in its inquiry into a coalition of one, and its puppet authorities, on charges of restricting freedom of movement of those detained, as well as using excessive force against them. Theft during raids of private homes, as well as evictions, and destruction of private property are among the potpourri of governmentally-sanctioned felonies committed in the name of bringing democracy to that country.

While this may be among the most potent expressions of outrage, on Mr. Annan's part, there remain several questions that need to be answered. For openers, which "coalition," or "multinational," forces is the Secretary-General referring to, and why do we have the last "tyrant" who tortured, as well as illegally incarcerated, thousands of people in Abu Ghraib in custody charging him of war crimes while the other is munching on Domino's pizza watching "Desperate Housewives" with the First Lady?

Indeed, this administration is right on the mark when it calls for reform in the U.N. and laments how ineffectual this behemoth world body of accountability has become. One can't help but agree when considering that General Colin Powell, former Secretary of Defense, was among the first to accuse his superiors of violating the Geneva Conventions more than two years ago (and look what happened to him!)

It's time for this league of civilized nations to confront those who commit barbaric acts head on, and call to task those who torture, and shame, regardless of which jihad they're operating under, or what flag they happen to be waving. Any league of nations, or world leader, worth its salt must challenge those who wish to turn back the clock on nuclear nonproliferation, as well as bring back the great Crusades.

The world is a remarkably smaller place today than it was, say, a thousand years ago, and while it might not look that way, crimes against humanity in 2006 aren't all that different from the way they were a thousand years ago; we just find out about them a whole lot faster, and we have a right to know, once and for all, who our war criminals are, to whom they will be held accountable, and when they will be brought to justice.