Posted on 06/30/2002 3:32:51 PM PDT by Pokey78
THE United States was ready last night to force the collapse of the United Nations mission in Bosnia over a bitter clash with its closest allies. Washington was preparing to use its veto power in the UN Security Council to block the routine six-month renewal of the UN’s police-training operation in Bosnia because Britain and other allies have refused to grant US peacekeepers immunity from the new International Criminal Court, which comes into force today. America has rejected the jurisdiction of the new court and removed its signature from the Rome treaty that established it, saying that US troops and officials might be unfairly prosecuted. However, there is little prospect of any of the 46 American policemen on UN duty in Bosnia ever being brought before the new tribunal in the Hague, which will prosecute only systematic and large-scale war crimes. But the Bush Administration has chosen to make an example of the Bosnia operation in its campaign to win immunity for all US military personnel overseas. For many on the American Right, it is an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone by forcing a US withdrawal from UN peacekeeping in the Balkans and undermining the new global court. A US veto would kill the 1,500-strong UN police-training mission in Bosnia, but it would also cast doubt on the much larger Nato-run Stabilisation Force (SFOR) peacekeeping operation there, which is covered by the same UN authorisation. US officials have promised that the 2,500 Americans in the 18,000-strong SFOR will not be withdrawn. But other participants, such as Germany and Ireland, might pull out their troops because of the lack of UN endorsement. To avoid the UN police-training mission’s immediate collapse, US diplomats were expected to agree, after shocking allies with a symbolic veto of the six-month-long renewal, to extend the mandate for two more days to allow time for further talks. Diplomats said that the European Union, which was to take over the operation from the UN at the end of the year, might be forced to assume control six months early — saving the US its 27 per cent share of the cost. They also fear that the strong US stance marks the beginning of a retreat by the world’s only superpower from international peacekeeping. “This is really, really big in terms of the US relationship with the rest of the world and the rule of law,” a diplomat said yesterday. The Bush Administration has said that it wants guarantees of immunity built into all 16 UN peacekeeping missions, something an overwhelming majority of Security Council members reject. Since US troops were killed in Somalia almost a decade ago, the US has played a limited role in UN peacekeeping operations. Besides the 46 Americans on UN duty in Bosnia, there are seven in the disputed territory of western Sahara, 11 on the Iraq-Kuwait border, seven in the Eritrea-Ethiopia frontier, two in Georgia, two in Jerusalem and 78 in East Timor. And the US provides 551 police officers to the UN mission in Kosovo, which now faces an uncertain future. Yugoslavia still has legal sovereignty over the breakaway Kosovo region and has ratified the International Criminal Court. Therefore, US military personnel in Kosovo are subject to the court’s jurisdiction just as they are in Bosnia. In high-stakes negotiations over the last few days, the US rebuffed a British compromise proposal that would have invoked a provision in the Rome treaty that allows the Security Council to delay any prosecution of a UN peacekeeper in Bosnia by at least 12 months.
It simply means that the US must not deploy troops under the UN flag. This means the US must only deploy troops where it has a direct interest, aggressively assert its sovereignty, and be prepared to defend it.
This is not a bad thing.
The EU is trying to win in the court-room what it cannot win in real-life, which is to be relevant on the world stage. Rather than build a military force, and assert its views the old-fashioned way, they will take control of our military. I think we must avoid playing their game. Evidently Bush agrees.
Yep, it shore is.
We ain't gonna let your disdain of the US and our rule of law manifest itself in the form of oppressing our military in some ridiculous, kangaroo court halfway round the world.
Remember, we pick the tune when it comes to military matters.. The rest of you simply dance.
Exactly.. and if we pull out they are going to have to go in and pick up where we left off.
This should be good for some laughs.
Should be replaced at once with an alliance of the USA with Russia and Serbia to kick Albanian butt.
So who's saying this? The idiot reporter James Bone[head]? I'd like to see the weenie country that tries to capture Americans, to be indicted, tried, and convicted for the stupid world court. Dumb @ss don’t you know, we don’t recognize no world court!
We should send this as a Hallmark greeting card to our "friends" in the EU
;^D
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.