'The Law' is whatever the alpha pol with the biggest pile of cash and the biggest collection of thugs wants it to be. Look at Berlusconi - like Bush, he makes it up as he goes along.

The Supreme Court only challenged Guantanamo because the remaining elderly liberal-leaning judges were inconsiderate enough not to die during the Bush years. It would have taken exactly one more for everything that Bush did to be labelled legal.

So no - Helen is right. There is no legal point here.

The political point is that the US population has no interest in facing the truth about itself - which is that Bush is a symptom of exceptionalism, not a cause. The only thing Bush has done differently is dropping the pretence of tolerance and humanitarian civility which previous presidents used to disguise the systematic and institutionalised torture, abuse and de facto war making on foreign nationals who were perceived to be working against US interests.

The evil heart of the US (and Anglo, and to some extent Euro) establishment won't change just because Bush has gone and Obama is in power. The best we can hope from Obama is some sort of accomodation and temporary diminishment of its influence - which is what happened, more or less, during the Clinton years.

But Obama won't strip out the heart by bringing Bush to trial, because Bush has always been a useful idiot - complicit, not commanding. Not even Cheney was really in charge, although he played his role very successfully.

If Obama tries to tackle the corruption head on - assuming he wants to - it won't be long before Biden is president.