Obama and the rule of law

"Change" was the simple message of Barack Obama's election campaign, and the emotions of his supporters - black and white alike - as shown on TV yesterday left no room for doubt that many Americans see his stunning victory as the chance for a new beginning for their country.

From a legal perspective there are good reasons to hope that this will be realised. The stain of Guantanamo Bay, which Obama has promised to close, the doubtful legality of the war in Iraq (yes, this country is complicit too) and the shameful disregard of human rights in the treatment of Iraqi civilians and prisoners, to name but three subjects, have left the USA's clams to moral authority on the world stage looking distinctly hollow.

To command respect and support, any country with aspirations to world leadership, just as any individual in government, must be seen to uphold both the letter and the spirit of the law, domestic and international, and the body of individual rights guaranteed by it. To say that is not being legalistic but to express the instincts of whole populations who will be for or against you depending on how they see you as living up to it.

Sadly, and to the regret of many outsiders, America has fallen far short of that ideal and long since lost the massive international wave of sympathy that could have been built on following the September 2001 attacks. The international community appears ready to give the Obama administration a clean slate. Let us hope it bases its actions on true foundations.