...I found this passage rather ironic for some reason, it’s from an article on the BBC:

“The US has given up trying to win its soldiers immunity from prosecution at the new International Criminal Court.”
(source)

How nice of them. The article goes on to state that the US feared that its personnel might face “malicious prosecutions” and therefore should enjoy a special status that excludes them from prosecution. Their desire to be excluded has been accepted for the last two years, though since evidence of abuses at American facilities have come to light the United States could not firm up the support it required at the UN to retain the special status.

Another fine example of how a nation can exclaim the virtues of justice and liberal practice and yet demand exclusion from responsibility for its actions against others.

The best way to make sure you get what you want from others is to blackmail them, another underhanded practice often employed by those that claim to be acting in the best interests of freedom. For example:

“The United States has suspended over $47m in military aid to 35 countries that have not signed deals to grant American soldiers immunity from prosecution for war crimes. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the protection of US citizens from the threat of being hauled before the new International Criminal Court (ICC) was a significant matter in relations with other countries.” (source).

The upside to such practices is that the world is denied more guns, bullets, planes, tanks, rockets, and whatever else is required to maintain “free and just societies” these days.

Then again, as time passes, the needs of those easily exploited could become far simpler.

posted by Matthew Good @ 11:50 AM