Free Republic

<p>The United States yesterday suspended more than $47 million in military aid to 35 countries for refusing to protect Americans on their territory from prosecution by the International Criminal Court.</p> <p>The penalized nations include six new U.S. allies in Central and Eastern Europe that are expected to join NATO next year, as well as Colombia, whose government is fighting a war against drugs and leftist guerrillas.</p>

The United States has signed a deal with Bhutan giving US citizens in the country immunity from prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC), the State Department said Tuesday. The deal with Bhutan brings to 34 the number of countries with which the United States has signed so-called "Article 98" agreements exempting US citizens from the court's jurisdiction, said Lynn Cassel, a department spokesman. Bhutan and Bosnia-Herzegovina both agreed to the pacts on May 16 but the deal with Thimphu was not announced until Tuesday. Washington refuses to support the ICC, arguing that it could become a forum for politically...