Bush waiver restores military training to 21 countries that had been barred

North County Times ^ | 3 OCT 2006 | GEORGE GEDDA

[radar101]

Twenty-one countries that had been denied participation in U.S. military training programs are now eligible to take part again under a presidential waiver announced Monday by the White House.

All 21 had run afoul of the Bush administration and U.S. law by refusing to sign an agreement with the United States that would exempt Americans from prosecution by the International Criminal Court.

The administration has taken a tough line against the ICC since its creation in 2002 out of concern that Americans overseas, including military personnel, diplomats and ordinary citizens, could be subject to politically motivated ICC prosecutions.

The following countries are affected by the waiver: Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Croatia, Ecuador, Kenya, Mali, Malta, Mexico, Namibia, Niger, Paraguay, Peru, Samoa, Serbia, South Africa, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Tanzania, Trinidad and Uruguay.

There was no waiver for programs that finance the purchase of U.S. military equipment by these countries or for their eligibility to purchase excess U.S. defense items.

The ICC, a United Nations creation, was set up in an attempt to ensure that perpetrators of genocide or crimes against humanity are brought to justice.

Scores of countries have gone along with U.S. requests to exempt Americans from ICC prosecutions. Others, however, refused to bend to U.S. pressure, and the result in many countries has been a sharp decline in their military ties with the United States.

Pentagon officials have told Congress that China has been filling the vacuum created by the suspension of training programs in 12 Latin American and Caribbean countries.

Gen. Bantz Craddock, who oversees U.S. military operations in Latin America, said in Senate testimony last March that military members of all ranks in the region are receiving training in China. In addition, he said, more and more Chinese non-lethal military equipment is showing up in the region.

Craddock testified that in 2003, a year before the law took effect, the United States trained 771 military personnel from countries that are now sanctioned.