Man Without Qualities

Posted 2:56 PM by Robert

The ICC Simply Must Go IV: Coalition of the Deranged

The National Post of Canada is reporting:

A coalition of lawyers and human rights groups yesterday unveiled a bid to use the UN's new International Criminal Court as a tool to restrain American military power. In a move Washington said vindicated U.S. claims that the court would be used for political purposes, the rights activists are working to compile war crimes cases against the United States and its chief ally in Iraq, Britain. ... As a non-member, the United States would normally be outside of ICC jurisdiction unless it was suspected of crimes in a country that is an ICC member, which Iraq is not. But the fact that Britain is a member has given the rights activists a springboard for a case that argues U.S. air raids that killed civilians were war crimes.

It is hard to imagine a development more likely to lead to the effective destruction of the ICC than its acceptance of this line of reasoning. Indeed, for the ICC even to accept jurisdiction over a serious case brought against Britain and/or Tony Blair would probably be enough to expose the ICC for the farce it was always destined and designed to be.