Donald Trump - The CIA Speech, The Iraqi Oil, And The War Crime

Holy crap there's so much to discuss about Donald Trump's first full day.

I could be discussing the emoluments clause of the Constitution and how Trump is in violation of it.  But hey, let me just ask a question: Where are the Constitutional fetishists these days?  You know the ones - they're well-armed, beer-bellied, and they spend their weekends in the woods ranting about the UN, the silent unmarked helicopters and the lib'ruls.  Now that there's a definite non-Kenyan, non-Socialist, in the Oval Office who actually is violating the Constitution, I have heard nary a peep from the guardian militias.  What gives?

I could be discussing the hundreds of thousands of Americans (and I was one of them - look here) who took to the streets in American cities (and the thousands of others who did the same in cities across the world) in support of Women's rights.  It was the first time in months I've felt anything approaching political optimism.  It was a great day.

But now, I want to discuss Trump's speech at CIA Headquarters yesterday.

Among the self-serving sentences, Trump replayed an old campaign theme:

The old expression: “To the victor belong the spoils.” You remember? You always used to say: “Keep the oil.” I wasn’t a fan of Iraq. I didn’t want to go into Iraq. But, I will tell you: when we were in, we got out wrong.

And I always said: “In addition to that, keep the oil.”

Now I said it for economic reasons, but if you think about it, Mike, if we kept the oil we would probably wouldn’t have ISIS, because that’s where they made their money in the first place. So we should have kept the oil.

But, okay. Maybe we’ll have another chance.

I'm wondering how many in the room (setting aside whatever Trump-plants Trump may have planted there) knew how illegal this is.

By no means-a-liberal Charles Krauthammer said that plundering the oil is a war crime.

So is it?

Yes, take a look:

Any destruction by the Occupying Power of real or personal property belonging individually or collectively to private persons, or to the State, or to other public authorities, or to social or cooperative organizations, is prohibited, except where such destruction is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations. [Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. Geneva, 12 August 1949].

Or look at this:

To destroy or seize the enemy's property, unless such destruction or seizure be imperatively demanded by the necessities of war [Article 23(g) of the 1907 Hague Regulations].

Krauthammer is right.  Plundering the oil is a war crime.  And there's Trump saying "maybe we'll have another chance."

This is different from simply lying about the size of the crowd at the inauguration.  Different from simply lying about his support of the Iraq war.  This is Donald Trump, Commander-In-Chief, advocating a war crime.

When will the Constitutional Absolutists in the Congress be bringing this up?