The New York Times

Wednesday, July 15, 1998

UNDERMINING AN INTERNATIONAL COURT

It is hard to understand why Washington is sabotaging the creation of a permanent international criminal court that would serve American interest. The With House should welcome a court now being negotiated by international delegates in Rome that could punish and deter international criminals such as Saddam Hussein.

The Pentagon, afraid that American peacekeepers abroad will be subject to politically motivated prosecutions, is behind the American opposition. But the court will have ample safeguards to prevent frivolous cases. If the judges at the existing international tribunals for Bosnia and Rwanda are an indication, the court's justices will be sober. They will have to approve investigations and indictments. A country's own courts would take precedence over the international court, which would cover only the most serious international crimes.

Washington is asking that no prosecution take place without the consent of the accused's government. This proposal, a retreat from current international law, is supported by many of the rogue states Washington abhors and is opposed by most democracies. It is easy to see why - imagine Yugoslavia having to agree before Slobodan Milosevic could be tried. The idea undermines the whole reason for the court, which is to have international law trump the impunity international thugs win by force.

There is every reason to believe the court would help protect rather than threaten the safety of American peacekeepers abroad. In Bosnia, for example, no American soldiers has been killed in combat in part because the most violent men are not in political power but in hiding, after their indictments by the Bosnian Tribunal. If Washington remains opposed, other nations should proceed with the design and establishment of a serious court. The Clinton Administration, for its part, should not compound its isolation by destroying world efforts to make this 50-year dream a reality.