US Power and the ICC

Kenneth Roth, director of Human Rights Watch, wrote a piece for the Financial Times on the birth of the ICC without US support. He contends,

An increasingly influential faction in the Bush administration believes that US military and economic power is so dominant that the US is no longer served by international law.

Better to negotiate issues case-by-case from a position of strength, they contend, than to be bound by international law in ways that might prove inconvenient. This attitude can be seen in the US rejection of not only the ICC but also treaties ranging from climate control to small arms.

No effective global system can rest solely on coercion. Global order depends on most governments abiding voluntarily by shared norms. Exempting America from the rule of law undermines those norms, leaving a more violent and inhumane world. Europe must stand up to this superpower folly.

Sure, some continue go on and on about how the ICC is going to be a kangaroo court where American heroes and patriots will get lynched by our malevolent enemies without due cause. But let's not kid ourselves: since the Rome statues of 1998, the members of the international community which support the ICC have made extraordinary efforts to safeguard the court's process so that politically-motivated prosecutions without substance have virtually no chance of coming to fruition.

But, in all reality, that point is just a convenient excuse for our non-cooperation. The true motive for the US opposition, as Roth indicates above, is all about power: we have it, overwhelmingly, and we want to be able to use it when we deem it necessary, without any constraints. And, especially with the right in charge now, the US leadership is unlikely to relent.

Of course, when any other nation shows such a wanton disregard for "international law" and "international cooperation," we are quick to crucify. However, when we do it, we're just fulfilling our benevolent place in the world. How dare anyone question us - the great beacon of freedom - or show anything resembling disrespect on this, and related, issues...