Another reason the world hates the US!

[veracity]

This morning, the Washington Post ran this article (exerpted below)...and not mentioned on the airwaves at all....to remind the world that WE MAY, YOU MAY NOT!

"UNITED NATIONS -- The Republican-controlled Congress has stepped up its campaign to curtail the power of the International Criminal Court, threatening to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in economic aid to governments that refuse to sign immunity accords shielding U.S. personnel from being surrendered to the tribunal.

The move marks an escalation in U.S. efforts to ensure that the first world criminal court can never judge American citizens for crimes committed overseas. More than two years ago, Congress passed the American Servicemembers' Protection Act, which cut millions of dollars in military assistance to many countries that would not sign the Article 98 agreements, as they are known, that vow not to transfer to the court U.S. nationals accused of committing war crimes abroad."

Note: we are the ones who demanded Milosovic be brought to justice. (of course, Bush, Sr. fought the trial of his friend, Pinochet) - and now we will have a show trial for our former friend, Saddam. We will punish anyone who wants to hold us accountable for greater war crimes than any of these men. Here's a bit of background on how George Bush and Co. have made sure they are NOT ACCOUNTABLE for atrocities in Iraq or anywhere else.

http://tvnewslies.org/html/not_accountable.html

[stellanoir]

1. With an ever weakening dollar I really

don't think the global community will sit idly by while we thumb our noses at both International Law and the Geneva Conventions. At least not for much longer.

Since the fraudulant election which essentially eliminated any hope of checks and balances between the three branches of government, I've thought that the rest of the world would have to relieve * of his presumed impunity. That is, since we can't.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. NOT ACCOUNTABLE for atrocities in Iraq or anywhere else

woudld this have been so welcome?? This is music to a rogue nation's ears. Shame on our Congress, shame on them for setting such a piss poor example of proper thinking. I am sure Adolph would be very proud of them.

http://www.elsa-deutschland.org/publikationen/icc/en
>>In 2002, the Rome Statute entered into force after having been ratified by more than 60 states, and the Court became a reality. Since then, ELSA has continued its work in the “Assembly of States Parties”, the control organ of the ICC, which meets at least once a year. Thus, several generations of ELSA delegates from all over Europe have contributed to the creation of a fair and independent International Criminal Court. They were selected on the basis of academic performance and ELSA experience by means of an ambitious international application procedure.<<

www.brusselstribunal.org

[nine23]

4. "piss poor example" indeed.

As a dual Canadian/EU citizen, this issue has been on "my list of reasons..." for some time now. What's different is we get to see this administration show it's true colours as they kick into "second gear", escalating it's appalling contempt for their (former) allies.

Bill Clinton helped create the ICC in good faith with like-minded allies in the west; this Congress is trashing it with mafia-like absurdity, threats analogous to "breaking the knees" of the weaker signatories.

Fucking appalling.

[veracity]

3. greater problem is....

that the general arrogance of the American public would support this legislation. We have an attitude of such unbelievable superiority as a nation - and so many Americans believe that no other nation should DARE to suggest that our government can commit crimes. That's what got Bush back into office...and even more important....the media are NOT reporting any of this. The major story came out in the spring. Did anyone even discuss it?

[HysteryDiagnosis]

6. our government can commit crimes

could not have all been wrong. Sorry bout the grammar.

If you want to know about how the economic powers regard human rights... just study the history of this country where the native American is concerned and you will see what hypocrisy is all about.

Sometimes my race totally disgusts me. Rarely does it impress me to words of adulation. Once in awhile it rises up in the face of wickedness and does what is right... I am WAITING but not as patiently as I used to.... hope is dwindling fast... but history has a way of setting pompous asses on their duffs.. and I am afraid this is the beginning of that swing of the pendulum. Afraid because it is going to drag us all along with it.... I pity the fool who sees it otherwise.

[veracity]

10. revisonism lives

Just think of how we regard the Alamo as a shrine to American heroism. So much of our history has been whitewashed (no pun intended) and revised to convince Americans that they have a special destiny to save the world by conquering it....Americans are cluless about their own history, largely they never read anything beyond the textbook legends they are taught in grade school.
This particular legislation, - to exclude us from all culpability, would be applauded by most Americans.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

13. My first post was clipped... I need to see why that happens... but I

was saying that 20 million native Americans could not have all bee wrong....

[Career Prole]

8. There was a brief flare of interest in the media in spring of '02

when Bolton sent the letter to Kofi Annan telling him the U.S. was "unsigning" the Rome statute.

The next time I ever heard about it in the major media was when * almost said during the second debate that he didn't support the ICC because they could bring our troops to justice.

"I made a decision not to join the International Criminal Court in The Hague, which is where our troops could be brought to -- brought in front of a judge, an unaccounted judge."
http://www.debates.org/pages/trans2004c.html

[veracity]

11. Abu Ghraib has disappeared as a topic

It's gone and forgotten. This is why the Canadians did not want Bush to enter the county, and why the Chileans wanted Bush arrested as a war criminal. The media has erased every possible war crime from the public and the American tv audience goes about its merry way, as if nothing has happened, and nothing of note IS happening. The death toll among civilians in Falluja and elsewhere in Iraq is overwhelming. Do we care?

[BlueManDude]

5. They hate Bush and his incompetent band of liars and crooks

they don't me or you.

[Crunchy Frog]

7. The US against the rest of the world.

We should have the absolute freedom to run rampant over the rest of the planet like crazed Visigoths and with no one to hold us to account.

I really hope that the rest of the world will decide that this is an intolerable demand, and will begin taking steps to rein us in.

It's true what they say about absolute power corrupting absolutely. This country has way more power than it is capable of handling. There need to be some real counterbalances out there. I'm not saying this to try and sound anti-American, it's just that we're human, with the same weaknesses that the rest of the human race has, and we need to acknowledge that fact.

I sometimes think it's the power, or the perception of power, that's doing more than anything to destroy our democracy.

[Jehanatu]

9. Oh fuck...

*sigh*

Well, Dumbya's being dumb, at least something is going right.

[gottalickbush]

12. I agree

I would like to see the US go into the ICC. On the other hand, I would also like to see some of the money our government sends to other countries get scaled back some, so it can be used to pay down this deficit that the idiot boy king drove up. I guess they think that since they give money to everyone that they should follow them in lock step.