17:11 2002-06-23
 
USA demands immunity from prosecution for war crimes
 
The United States of America has presented a proposal which dropped
like a bombshell in the United Nations Security Council : either the
USA is granted immunity from prosecution by the International
Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes, crimes against humanity or
genocide committed by US civilian or military personnel while on
peace-keeping missions, or it will not take part in any more peace
missions.
 
This extra-ordinary request follows one last month, in which the US
administration tried to force an agreement by which US personnel in
East Timor would not be prosecuted in future by the ICC, all the more
curious because there is no knowledge of any atrocities committed by
US personnel, unless some effort is being made to hide the evidence
arising from covert operations.
 
John Negroponte, the US Ambassador to the United Nations, has
presented the latest request for immunity, which has had a dramatic
effect: the United Kingdom and France have stated that they will veto
the measure because it goes against the grain of norms of
international justice. Making it clear that US participation in
future peace missions is dependent upon immunity from prosecution for
eventual war crimes, the US administration gives a clear indication
that everything is not as it should be.
 
Evidently, after the wanton and gratuitous acts of destruction in the
Balkans and now in Afghanistan, where Pravda.Ru registered and
printed evidence about sixteen separate acts of ?collateral damage¦
in which hundreds of innocent civilians were massacred, the State
Department can see that sooner or later, a case is going to be
brought.
 
The attitude of the USA in this case is all the more surprising
because this is the country, which until now has expounded the notion
that freedom, democracy and human rights are at the top of its
agenda. Claiming immunity from prosecution for war crimes goes
against the precept that the notion of justice is universal and not
negotiable. If war crimes are committed, then those who perpetrate
them should face the consequences of their actions.
 
That the USA should present this proposal is yet again proof of the
skulduggery and treacherous stealth and hypocrisy, which permeates
this country-s foreign policy.
 
Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY
PRAVDA.Ru
 
 
http://english.pravda.ru/usa/2002/06/23/30928.html