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| International |
| America boycotts opening of world court |
| 2003-03-12 |
| The United States showed its opposition to the new International Criminal Court (ICC) set up at The Hague to try war crimes by boycotting its inauguration ceremony yesterday. The American ambassador to the Netherlands, Clifford Sobel, refused to attend the gathering, which was hosted at The Hague by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary general. It's not our party. Why should we attend? Mr Annan said the ICC, billed as the descendent of the tribunal at Nuremberg set up after the Second World War, was "the embodiment of our collective conscience". But the US, which claims its servicemen could be targeted by politically motivated cases, has signed treaties with more than 20 nations giving its citizens immunity from the ICC. Richard Dicker, director of the international justice programme for Human Rights Watch, accused the US government of trying to create a "two-tier justice system" with one law for US citizens and another for everyone else. Speaking of two tiers, let's place a bet: who in the following list is most likely to be indicted first by the ICC — George Bush, Ariel Sharon, or Saddam Hussein? It's a suckers bet. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #10 "Mr Annan said the ICC, billed as the descendent of the tribunal at Nuremberg set up after the Second World War, was "the embodiment of our collective conscience"." The "collective conscience," so ably embodied by Annan and that motley collection silly little U.N. countries sure helped those half-million Rwandans, didn't it? |
| Posted by: Jonesy 2003-03-12 18:34:27 |
| #9 This ICC is just the beginning of a Kafka novel, so to speak. The court will do what is trendy or what the powers wish it to do. Do you really think that they will take on the hardcases like Bob, Kim, Saddam, and Co? We are in the big battle now folks, and its not just Sammy. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-03-12 13:04:57 |
| #8 I would really like to see a sane Western member of the court, one who does not send peacekeepers out and is therefore somewhat safe from the inevitable retrebution, start indicting the bastards of the world. Mugabe, Castro, the funky North Korean leader, the heads of China, Saddam, the Iranian leadership. The list of real deserving scumbags could go on, and on, and on.When none of them show up for trial, and it becomes clear that none of them have even signed up for the court, the farcical ICC will fall apart. |
| Posted by: Yank 2003-03-12 12:29:09 |
| #7 Richard Dicker (gotta love that name), director of the international justice programme for Human Rights Watch, accused the US government of trying to create a "two-tier justice system" with one law for US citizens and another for everyone else. Maybe that's because ours is better??? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-03-12 10:51:40 |
| #6 "Richard Dicker, director of the international justice programme for Human Rights Watch" the delightfully named Dick Dicker huh? With a name like that you'd think he'd just STFU |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-03-12 08:30:02 |
| #5 ICC first order of buisness indict Saddam.Won't happen though. |
| Posted by: raptor 2003-03-12 07:54:10 |
| #4 Fine, one of the first orders of business should be the trial of those UN officials who allowed the slaughter of innocent civilians in Bosnia and Rwanda -- right in front of UN troops. |
| Posted by: Patrick Phillips 2003-03-12 05:26:34 |
| #3 "Mr Annan said the ICC, billed as the descendent of the tribunal at Nuremberg set up after the Second World War, was "the embodiment of our collective conscience"." Annan speaks as the man whose only high-profile voiced opinion on Iraq was "don't listen to UN resolutions - they're not meant to be taken seriously" and "hands off Saddam, it's not fair to pick on the poor little man". If the UN actually thinks it can compare itself, in terms of moral rectitude, to the Nuremburg War Trials without having the guts or the resolution to challenge evil (for want of a better word), it needs a to take a good long look at itself in the mirror (or someone's got to tell it)... An insult to Nuremburg and an insult to justice. |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2003-03-12 03:28:08 |
| #2 Why on earth would anyone want to be judged by a Kangaroo Court? To an increasing number of Euros, anything that a member of the accepted "victim" class says, is patently true. I prefer to rely on John Henry Wigmore's juristic studies of "Evidence," rather than some self-interested reference to a politically motivated "collective conscience." |
| Posted by: Anonon 2003-03-12 03:16:55 |
| #1 Why are you so cynical? The lofty ideals embodied by this institution would never be subverted to the agenda of petty international politics....(cough) Can someone do a Nexis seach and find exactly how many European political figures have openly stated that the biggest job for the UN is to 'balance' or contain US power? I think I've read that at least 15 times over the last 2 months. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-03-12 02:47:31 |