Looking back, can you now understand why I was so angry that Bush didn't recall Clinton's signature from day one? Waiting fifteen months until a few days before the ICC was a fate acompli, was a terribly misguided way to handle this.
We could have led people away from signing this lemon. Instead we allowed them to think we were on board until it was too late.
Grrrrr!
We can kid ourselves all we want to. When it comes to judgements by the ICC, we will not only be judged by it, but our leaders will fall all over themselves to abide by it's judgements.
Imagine that. Our leaders will answer to a entity outside our nation as if they were actually subservient to it, which they sure as hell aren't.
How many more marines will die if the President supports this guy? Despite the fact he was doing the right thing to most people it does look like murder, and if the president says that it was ok then thousands more arabs will rise up in Iraq, some of whom will be able to kill more marines, so more people die in the long run. This guy has to be thrown to the wolves to make sure that the wolves dont bite back even harder
The point of the ICC was never to interfere with the US or any country that has a functioning justice system. Every country has first crack at trying someone. As long as they make an effort the ICC will keep its nose out.
If we captured Kim Jong Il, we couldn't send him back to Korea for a trial. Hell they'd probably just put him back in power. We couldn't really prosecute him in the states, everything he's done is outside our jurisdiction. It would look like a kangaroo court. The only thing with any legitimacy would be something like the ICC.
I'm pretty sure: No American soldier is going to see the ICC.
1) First off we've forced the UN to make us an exempt from the court(we threaten to block peacekeeping efforts). So basically America is above the law.
2) Even if we hadn't done that, the only way to wind up at the ICC is someone put you there. There are lots of evil SOBs wanted by the ICC that nobody will bring in. A US soldier would have to commit a war crime, be captured, and then be delivered to the Hague.
I'm sorry not to agree with you Lefty, but the ICC has yet to determine it's parameters. Already the idea was toyed with by the Dutch to bring charges against the Pope for his statements about the Gay Day Celebration in Rome.
Everyone has signed onto the ICC without the ICC having restricted itself, it's been vague and elastic, as to what constitutes a crime, and what will come under it's jurisdiction.
And it really doesn't matter that the USofA hasn't signed, a citizen can be brought to trial before the ICC if the U.N. presses the charges, at least that is the way I read it.