-Caveat Lector-
December 18, 2000
Deadline looming as Clinton wavers on world court treaty
By Betsy Pisik
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
NEW YORK � The Clinton administration is deliberating whether in
the next two weeks to sign a treaty for an International Criminal
Court (ICC) that its own officials say will put American forces
abroad at risk of prosecution.
Supporters of the treaty are urging President Clinton to sign
before a Dec. 31 deadline, saying that even if it is never
ratified, that is the only way the United States can maintain
influence on decisions, including the appointments of judges and
prosecutors.
But Senate Republicans say they see no useful purpose to signing
the treaty, arguing that to do so could be only a "conscious and
deliberate effort" to force a course of action on the incoming
administration of George W. Bush.
The Clinton administration initially championed the ICC, saying a
permanent tribunal to prosecute cases of genocide, crimes against
humanity and war crimes would help prevent the rise of dictators
like Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milosevic.
But U.S. negotiators turned against the treaty when it became
clear that the United States would not be able to use its veto in
the U.N. Security Council to protect U.S. forces from
prosecution by the court over actions, such as last year's
bombing of Yugoslavia.
Opposition has been even more forceful in the Senate, where
Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms, North Carolina
Republican, has pledged that the treaty will never be ratified.
The administration's dilemma lies in the language of the treaty,
under which countries that sign before Dec. 31 will continue to
have input into decisions on the formation of the court, even if
they do not ratify it.
After that date, a country must both sign and ratify to
participate in such decisions, including the selections of judges
and prosecutors.
Because the court will have jurisdiction over all nations �
including those that do not choose to endorse it � human rights
groups and others are saying the United States must act now
before the door slams shut forever.
"Signing gives them more clout, more influence and more good will
than if they were on the outside looking in," said Richard
Dicker, the associate council for Human Rights Watch
International and a passionate proponent of the court.
Noting that the United States may never ratify the court, Mr.
Dicker argued that signing the treaty would be "important . .
. in terms of influencing what happens in the court process,"
but legally meaningless.
"There is nothing binding resulting from signature. President
Clinton would not have bound the U.S. government to anything."
But Marc Thiessen, a spokesman for Mr. Helms, said in an
interview that he does not see any reason to sign.
"There is no practical consequence to not signing the treaty;
it's purely a political decision," he said last week. "The only
reason this administration would sign it is a conscious and
deliberate effort to tie the hands of the Bush administration."
After a moment's reflection, Mr. Theissen added: "One could
argue that the most dangerous two months in American foreign
policy are November through January" before Mr. Bush takes
office.
The treaty, which will take effect once it is ratified by 60
nations, so far has been signed by 120 countries and ratified by
25 of them. With the 15 members of the European Union moving
rapidly toward ratification, observers say the court could come
into force in late 2002.
U.S. negotiators have argued persistently to improve protections
in the ICC treaty for Americans abroad, but remain dissatisfied
with the safeguards they have extracted so far from allies in
London, Paris, Ottawa, Berlin and elsewhere.
Earlier this month, a team led by the State Department's
ambassador for war-crimes issues, David Scheffer, spent two weeks
trying to insert protections for U.S. military personnel into a
non-treaty document defining the relationship between the ICC and
the United Nations � including Secretariat officials,
humanitarian workers and peacekeepers.
Legal analysts say the Americans tried yet again to establish a
role in the process for the U.N. Security Council, where the
United States enjoys a veto.
The final wording of that document, as well as court-financing
issues, are unlikely to be resolved until a final conference in
September.
The administration so far has refused to say whether Mr. Clinton
will sign the treaty in his final days in office and will not
even take questions on the issue.
Reporters asking about the government's plans are simply referred
to a Dec. 8 interview in which Mr. Scheffer told the New York
Times: "No decision has been made at present whether or not to
sign the treaty."
Mr. Scheffer "is getting calls from reporters from all over the
place, and he's not taking any of them," a State Department
spokeswoman said last week.
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Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF:
*Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
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