Powell confirms United States to pull out of treaty creating international criminal court

Associated Press / SFGate

[RCW2001]

Sunday, May 5, 2002
©2002 Associated Press

URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2002/05/05/national1155EDT0467.DTL

(05-05) 08:55 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --

The United States will tell the United Nations this week it is renouncing formal involvement in a treaty creating the first permanent war crimes tribunal, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday.

Powell said the Bush administration will notify U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan that the United States has no intention of ratifying the treaty and now considers itself "no longer bound in any way to its purpose and objective," Powell said on ABC's "This Week."

The International Criminal Court gained the necessary international backing to come into being when 10 nations joined 56 others last month in announcing their ratification of the treaty negotiated in Rome in 1998. President Clinton signed the treaty, but never submitted it to the Senate for ratification. The Bush administration has made its opposition clear.

A senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Saturday that that opposition was expected to be formalized Monday in a speech by Under Secretary of State Marc Grossman and at news briefing by Pierre-Richard Prosper, the State Department's ambassador for war crimes issues.

The United States fears the impact on American citizens, arguing that safeguards against frivolous or politically motivated prosecutions of U.S. soldiers and officials are not sufficient.

The court, to be formed this summer without U.S. participation, will fill a gap in the international justice system first recognized by the U.N. General Assembly in 1948 after the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials for World War II's German and Japanese war criminals.

Tribunals have been created for special situations -- like the 1994 Rwanda genocide and war crimes in former Yugoslavia -- but no mechanism existed to hold individuals criminally responsible for serious crimes such as genocide.

"We are the leader in the world with respect to bringing people to justice," Powell said. "But ... we found that this was not a situation that we believed was appropriate for our men and women in the armed forces or our diplomats and political leaders."

©2002 Associated Press  

[illbenice]

"For the Bush bashers at FR: Here's futher proof that there's not a dimes worth of difference btween Bush and Clinton."

Get out of your cave! What has Bush done about the following, taxes, size of government, illegals, mexican trucking, gun control, and so on. On every issue he as acted like a democrat. What will it take for you to realize that Bush is a RINO? And if you ever thought he was a good leader, how has he organized us during war time? He has done NOTHING, he has asked us for nothing more than to shop, thanks to this lack of leadership the war effort is slowly waining, because many people are losing focuss.

[trevorjohnson]

I have new faith in my President. Now...what about that money for the UNFPA..UNCPA...whatever the heck the initials are...(the abortion money for China)? I hope the Prez doesn't disapoint us on that one. It would ruin the pride I am feeling right now for him.

[Zoey]

I agree. I'd feel better if congress would have passed the American Serviceman Protection Act(or whatever it was called. I don't exactly remember). We really needed to make it clear that if they try to bring an American before that court then we're going to kick their globalist @sses. Unfortunately it passed the House and Senate and then died in committee. I don't think the ICC will die without the US. I think eventually they will bring charges against an American and then their will be a showdown and I'm not going to bet on what will happen then.

[Balding_Eagle]

Get out of your cave! What has Bush done about the following, taxes, size of government, illegals, yada yada yada.............

For you the glass is half empty............for me (because I realize how close Gore came to stealing the election) it's half full.

While you bashers run around gnashing your teeth and wailing, I'm enjoying what we DO have. (BTW, your post makes you sound a little out of control, lower the caffine intake)

PS, I notice you left out Bushes Pro-Death stand on abortion...........Oh, that's right, that turned out to be wrong. As will your view on most of the things you listed.

[Nephi]

PS, I notice you left out Bushes Pro-Death stand on abortion

Who are you, Jesse Jackson?

Good defense of Bush...how long did it take you to come up with that?

[Nephi]

Can you imagine the howls if Clinton had refused to refer to Arafat as a terrorist?

Or, insisted that Israel continue to negotiate with Arafat? Some of these freepers are no better than Democrats.

[Texasforever]

He has done NOTHING, he has asked us for nothing more than to shop,

What the hell are you doing for the war effort?

[Texasforever]

that our participation in the treaty hasn't truly been killed since Clinton's signature remains.

LMAO. Nothing is ever enough. Look dipwad, what is it about "United States to pull out of international criminal court" that you do not understand. You are just irate because Bush did not live down to your paranoid expectations of him.

[Texasforever]

Can you imagine the howls if Clinton had refused to refer to Arafat as a terrorist?

Or if the Israeli government had not? Oh, wait, they haven't.

[Texasforever]

Or, insisted that Israel continue to negotiate with Arafat? Some of these freepers are no better than Democrats.

Or if the Israeli government had not? Oh wait, they haven't.

[NotFinished]

Remember the UN Genocide Treaty? Signed by Truman in 1948 - ratified in 1988 (Who was president then anyway?)
This sounds good but I have a hard time believing it's really gone.

[Balding_Eagle]

Good defense of Bush...how long did it take you to come up with that?

Days man, days. No......um um weeks, yeah thats it, weeks.

[Centurion2000]

bump

[Balding_Eagle]

Who are you, Jesse Jackson?

LOL! Take a look at my profile page, and have a good laugh too!