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"If certain acts of violation of treaties are crimes, they are crimes whether the United States does them or whether Germany does them, and we are not prepared to lay down a rule of criminal conduct against others which we would not be willing to have invoked against us." "The United States cooperates with many other nations to keep the peace, but we will not submit American troops to prosecutors and judges whose jurisdiction we do not accept.... Every person who serves under the American flag will answer to his or her own superiors and to military law, not to the rulings of an unaccountable International Criminal Court."
"We will take the actions necessary to ensure that our efforts to meet our global security commitments and protect Americans are not impaired by the potential for investigations, inquiry, or prosecution by the International Criminal Court, whose jurisdiction does not extend to Americans and which we do not accept." There has been a palpable change in how the U.S. political machine uses the United Nations, other world institutions and international law. The shift over the last decade has occurred along with the changes in the world. Contrary to what they would have us believe the collapse of the Soviet Union and the fact that the U.S. is the only superpower left has more to do with it than Sept. 11th. The plans for U.S. World domination and hegemony have been simmering for more than a decade. These plans are laid out in documents by the "Project for the New American Century" and this group's precursors led by Rumsfield, Cheney, Bush and the like. [See PNAC article.] One could argue the shift hasn't been that dramatic. The U.S. has always used international law when it was supportive of their missions and basically ignored them when they stood in the way. In the past however, the U.S. has paid some attention to the appearances of their strategies. The Bush Sr. generation was careful to appear to have an international consensus when they invaded Iraq in 1990. There was a tremendous amount of effort and investment (in the form of coercion, threats and bribes) put into "coalition" building. This second Gulf War the velvet gloves are off. The U.S. plowed ahead despite unprecedented opposition and very little support. The opposition to this U.S. invasion was worldwide both in the streets and in the United Nations. This slowed them down significantly but they would not be stopped. Not only the UN but other international bodies and treaties have similarly been ignored and tossed aside like yesterday's news. The U.S. is spitting on nuclear proliferation treaties, the Geneva Convention, other international laws and bodies in charge of racial, human, animal and environmental concerns. Not to mention the attempts at dismantling our own set of laws-the constitution-here at home. The illegal patriot acts and homeland security plans are being set up to lock us up, clamp us down and keep us quiet. Not only is the U.S. ignoring and openly violating international law but it also insists other hand picked countries obey it. Rather, they accuse Cuba, Iraq, North Korea, Iran etc of violating international law and UN resolutions as a pretense for us to strong-arm them. Meanwhile Israel gets 100% U.S. support while continuing horrendous human rights violations and refusals to follow UN resolutions. It's like the corrupt business owner with 2 sets of books, one for the front and one with the "real" shifty deals, the "real" rules. Any pretext of the U.S. working together with other nations and appearances of compromise are thrown out the window. The U.S. isn't making time for diplomacy. Ultimately the arrogance of this government is causing more enemies-which will be their demise. But this arrogance is based on the fact that they honestly believe they will control the world and they will control those of us who see a different vision. How else can you explain it? It paints a hideous picture. Is this the future we want? The UN has been said to have capitulated. This is somewhat true in that the official opposition against this latest war basically collapsed when the invasion was complete. The UN is now providing aid and back-up for the U.S. But we cannot forget the UN held the criminal murderous sanctions on Iraq in their fists for 13 years despite hundreds of reports from the Red Crescent/Cross about the humanitarian disaster it was causing. During this period we called the UN a shield for U.S. imperialism. The U.S. used the veneer of the UN to carry on many illegal invasions and actions during this time (1991-2001). The U.S. invasions of Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia were all called "humanitarian interventions," we called them the "New Colonialism," but they had the stamp of approval by the UN. There are those who would have us concentrate our work on "fixing" the United Nations. Making it work better. But if you look into history the UN was created to serve the imperialist powers, especially the U.S. It is playing its role as fig leaf; there is no real power there to fix. Look at how the U.S. has dealt with the International Criminal Court, they won't even sign-up. I argue that as the sole world superpower the U.S. will not obey any international laws or bodies we create. We must focus our efforts to change the world on those that have been proven to work. The arrogance and unbridled aggression of the current U.S. world strategy is unprecedented. They have made it clear nothing will come between them and their prize-the WORLD! Not international law, not the UN, and certainly not the worlds people. The UN really has become a very minor player on the world stage. And we certainly can't rely on them to stop the U.S. War Machine. Only with a worldwide movement of opposition in the streets will we have a chance of stopping these warmongers. Literally the future of the planet depends upon it. |
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