Tearing up another UN decision

In yet another slap in the face to the world community, the majority of 
other nations and the United Nations, the US Government has announced that 
it will not ratify the treaty setting up the International Criminal Court 
(ICC).

The required number of member countries of the United Nations have now 
ratified the treaty establishing the Court and it will come into existence 
on July 1 this year.

In an unprecedented action the Bush administration has notified the United 
Nations that it will not only not ratify the treaty establishing the ICC 
but will also cancel its previous signature to the treaty.

Marc Crossman, the US Under Secretary for Political Affairs, declared that 
the Court "threatens US sovereignty" and that "after years of working to 
fix this flawed statute, and having our constructive proposals rebuffed, it 
is our only alternative."

Mr Crossman claimed that the "US has been a world leader in promoting "the 
rule of law" and has been "in the forefront of promoting international 
justice".

Hypocrisy

In what can only be described as breath-taking hypocrisy, Mr Crossman 
declared that the role of the UN Security Council has been "usurped", 
forgetting that the US has consistently ignored the UN and its decisions as 
well as the Security Council when that course suits US interests.

The most recent example is US support for Israel in its aggression against 
the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza Strip and the collective failure of both 
these countries to carry out the resolutions of the UN. For almost four 
decades these resolutions have called on Israel to evacuate the territories 
it occupied in its 1967 war against its Arab neighbours.

It is clear from Mr Crossman's statements that the US fears that its 
citizens may be brought to justice and charged with war crimes before the 
International Criminal Court.

He said: "The Court, as constituted today, claims the authority to detain 
and try American citizens, even though our democratically-elected 
representatives have not agreed to be bound by the treaty."

He said that the ICC "could have a chilling effect on the willingness of 
States to project power in defense of their moral and security interests."

That the US sees its "projection of power" as encompassing every single 
country in the world is indicated by Mr Crossman's remark that "At any 
given time, US forces are located in close to 100 nations around the world, 
conducting peacekeeping and humanitarian operations and fighting 
inhumanity."

Law unto themselves

Indicating that the US Government and US military forces are a "law unto 
themselves", he claimed that "by putting US officials and our men and women 
in uniform at risk of politicised prosecutions, the ICC will complicate US 
military cooperation with many friends and allies who will now have a 
treaty obligation to hand over US nationals to the Court -- even over US 
objections."

"Nations with accountable, democratic governments do not abuse their own 
people or wage wars of conquest and terror", said Mr Crossman.

The US claims that the ICC would conduct "politically motivated 
prosecutions", yet the US has strongly supported and promoted The Hague 
Court, which is currently trying Slobadan Milosevic for alleged war crimes, 
and is carrying out a vendetta against those whom the US regards as having 
resisted American domination.

While asserting that the US believes "in justice and the promotion of the 
rule of law", the US has already torn up a range of treaties with other 
states and is undermining the United Nations to the point where it has 
become unable to enforce its major decisions. Furthermore, the US 
systematically ignores the UN whenever it believes that it is in its 
interests to do so.