The Bush administration’s hostility toward the new International Criminal Court is beginning to wear. It should stop before it damages the United States’ vital interests.
The latest manifestation of the administration’s dislike is its threat to change the United States’ role in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization if the European Union refuses its request to sign agreements protecting U.S. soldiers from the court’s reach. …
The administration fears that the court would prosecute U.S. soldiers and politicians on politically exaggerated charges. But the treaty that established the court would prevent that except in the most exceptional circumstances. The court would assume jurisdiction only when U.S. courts do not or cannot.
It would prosecute military attacks that inadvertently harm civilians only in the clearest cases of malign intent. It would prosecute genocide and other crimes against humanity only when it could be proved that such crimes were part of a government plan. …
The court is a reality, and not a bad one at that. The administration should stop letting its animosity be the tail that wags the foreign policy dog.