By PAMELA HESS MOSCOW, June 12 (UPI) -- Defense Secretary William Cohen says establishing an independent and international criminal court for human rights violations would be "intolerable" to the Defense Department if it did not include an exception for the United States and any other country with a respected judicial system. "If there are no protections for our soldiers -- we are the ones that are called upon virtually every time to be deployed all over the world -- then we would adamantly oppose that," Cohen told reporters en route to Moscow. As conceived in 1998, when the United Nations first proposed establishing the court, soldiers and leaders of any country could face criminal charges and penalties in the court even if their home nations have not agreed to honor its authority. The United States has not ratified the proposal, which had overwhelming U.N. approval. With more than 200,000 U.S. soldiers deployed overseas, opportunities to manipulate the court to hamstring the United States would abound, Cohen said. Cohen worries that the court's inquiries would be unchecked by any power -- like the U.N. Security Council, for instance, of which the United States is a permanent member -- and could be used frivolously against the U.S. troops. "Our concern is once you have a totally independent international court that is not under the jurisdiction, supervision or is in any way influenced, obligated or accountable to a supervisory institution like the U.N. Security Council, then the potential for allegations to be made against our soldiers could be frivolous in nature," he said. "You could have charges brought before The Hague and this, I think, would be very destructive to our international participation. It would be intolerable as far as our people our concerned." NATO faced allegations for months that it had committed war crimes in Yugoslavia during last year's war, charges that were cleared by the standing war crimes tribunal only last week after prolonged investigations. "The very notion that there would be an allegation of war crimes, given what we went through to protect innocent life, is I think a shape of some things to come in the way of allegations to come by third parties or nations that would seek to embarrass or hinder our participation in international affairs," Cohen said. He argued that the U.S. military and public criminal justice system should be adequate to satisfy international concern about troops' conduct of war. "We have demonstrated over the years wherever there is an allegation of abuse on the part of a soldier we have a judicial system that will deal with it very effectively," Cohen said. "As long as we have a respected judicial system then there should be some insulation factor (for the United States.)" -- Copyright 2000 by United Press International. All rights reserved. -- Message: WWN-UPI-1-20000612-09501700-bc-cohen-humanrights Content: SRV-UPIWASH SRV-INTNEWS Content: LEGAL Content: 02000000 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- %INTERNATIONAL %COHEN %HUMANRIGHTS V%UPI P%UPI Search news for: Search by:Keyword Ticker Search Keyword examples: "general motors", bio technology and venture, yen Symbol: <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html <A HREF="http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
