UN's Criminal Court Threatens US Military and Sovereignty

UN propaganda sells the vision of the ICC as a tool for bringing international criminals like bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and Libya's Qadhafi to justice. The truth is, the court is more likely to be used as a tool for those criminals, against the United States. In a letter to President Bush, Senator Jesse Helms said, "instead of helping the United States go after real war criminals and terrorists, the International Criminal Court has the unbridled power to intimidate our military people and other citizens with bogus, politicized prosecutions. Similar creations of the United Nations have shown this to be inevitable."

Unlike any other treaty in history, the UN International Criminal Court ignores national laws and declares jurisdiction over all nations, whether they have ratified it or not. Once 60 nations sign on, the ICC becomes international law. The ICC defines as a war crime, any attack by our soldiers with knowledge that inescapable collateral deaths or injuries "to civilians or damage to civilian objects or wide-spread, long-term damage to the natural environment... would be clearly excessive in relation to the concrete and direct overall military advantage anticipated." In other words, you can have a war, but don't break anything, don't hurt civilians, or harm the environment.

It is impossible for the military to comply with those restrictions and still achieve its mission. Bombs go awry. Civilians get in the way. Intelligence agents make mistakes and target the wrong buildings. In the early days of the war on terrorism, with little intelligence on the ground, US bombs mistakenly fell into a residential neighborhood and killed civilians. A Cruise missile strayed from its target and may have killed some UN operatives who were working to clear mines. Several civilians were killed in an Afghan village during bombing runs. Are the US soldiers who are responsible for these actions to be prosecuted by the ICC?

Would the ICC have prosecuted the airmen on board the US planes that dropped atomic bombs on Japan in World War II? That act which ended the war fits the definition of a war crime under the ICC treaty. Keep in mind, those bombs were dropped in order to save thousands of American lives because the United States knew the Japanese were prepared to stand to the last man to ward off an invasion. Civilians were killed, but many more lives were saved by the action. Under the UN's ICC rules, the Americans would have been treated as the villains, not the Japanese.

Consider too, that the Taliban used innocent civilians as human shields against US bombs. Saddam Hussein used the same tactic in the Gulf War. Under ICC rules, these cowards would get away with such a tactic as a helpless US military would be forced to stand by, waiting for their targets to stand away from women's skirts.

War is not a video game and it's not an Olympic event. War is hell. Innocent people die. In a dastardly sneak attack on September 11th, an estimated 4,000 of them were Americans. More will die if the US has its hands tied by the United Nations' International Criminal Court.

The International Criminal Court represents even greater threats to American sovereignty and Constitutionally guaranteed liberties. Unlike the American system of justice, the ICC would not perform trials by juries of peers; would not guarantee bail; and would not grant prisoners the right to face their accusers. The United States judicial system would not be permitted to intervene on behalf of American citizens.

More frightening is the manner in which the UN will choose the eighteen judges who will each serve for nine-year terms. They will be elected by a two-thirds vote of the nations that ratify the court. This was the same process used to oust the United States last Spring from its long-held seat on the United Nations Human Rights Commission. The United States would hold one vote against the likes of Cuba, Iraq, Iran, Libya and Syria, the very nations that now protect and even foster terrorists. Will the court elect a judge from Red China, where American rights aren't just foreign, but represent the enemy? It doesn't take a genius to see the direction the UN's court will take when American soldiers stand on trial.

There is one more important point that must not be overlooked concerning the overwhelming power that the ICC will hold. The Court can prosecute anyone who violates UN treaties, including environmental agreements like the Biodiversity Treaty and those covering World Heritage Sites. This one provision makes the ICC a direct threat to ALL American citizens. A case in point was the Crown Butte Gold Mine that was shut down by UN intervention in 1997. Crown Butte was located on private property, miles from Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone was designated by the UN to be a World Heritage Site. The UN determined that the mine was a direct threat to Yellowstone and declared it the first ever "endangered" World Heritage Site. Had there been an International Criminal Court in place, there is little doubt that the Crown Butte owners would have been put on trial for violating a UN treaty.

The UN needs only twenty-two more nations to ratify the Court in order for it to become international law. Senator Helms is leading the fight to keep America out of it. Calling it the "International Kangaroo Court," last year, Helms introduced the American Service Members' Protection Act (S.857) to exempt American soldiers and leaders from ICC prosecution. Congress has refused to act on the bill. Last month, in the wake of the terrorist attacks and the war in Afghanistan, Helms tried to attach the bill to the Defense Authorization Act, but the Senate failed to act on the amendment.

Senator Helms' bill would: prohibit use of taxpayer funding for the ICC; prohibit the sharing of classified information; restrict the US role in UN peacekeeping missions unless the UN specifically exempts US troops from prosecution; blocks US aid to allies unless they too sign accords to shield US troops on their soil from ICC prosecution; and authorizes any necessary actions to free US soldiers improperly handed over to the ICC. President Bush has endorsed S.857. It's even being supported by the State Department. Yet the US Senate, led by Majority Leader Tom Daschle, has refused to enact the bill and protect American soldiers as they fight the war on terrorism.

Terrorists have murdered our people and disrupted our lives. They've forced us to put soldiers in our airports and around bridges. We have military planes guarding our borders and air space. We're afraid to use our mail system. We are being frightened into surrendering our liberties in exchange for security. Their hatred of America's freedoms is forcing us to live in fear. For their violence against us, they deserve to die.

This is not the time for muddle-headed international bureaucrats to call for debates and resolutions. It's not the time to allow those with an anti-American agenda to stop us from freeing ourselves from the terrorist threat. This is not the time to encumber our soldiers as they try to rid the world of these murderers. This is not the time to pretend that the United Nations has any relevance in the drive for peace, justice and security.

This is the time for America to stand for its own self-interest, to declare its sovereignty and to reject any initiative that tries to block our way. The UN's International Criminal Court is a dangerous and powerful tool for those who seek to weaken the independence of the United States.

Senator Daschle and the rest of Congress have a duty to protect the US Constitution from attack by the UN's ICC. It must be rejected by the US at all costs. Senator Helms' American Service Members Protection Act is a major step in the right direction. Once the United States refuses to participate, the ICC will prove to be another useless UN folly.

Tom DeWeese is the publisher/editor of The DeWeese Report and president of the American Policy Center, a Warrenton, Virginia grass-roots think tank. The Center maintains an Internet site at www.americanpolicy.org.

Published by permission.