US calls for a Netherlands Invasion Clause

[Saint Marcus]

Saint Marcus, I am surprised that you cannot see the basic problem. If an American, acting in his official capacity, is charged with war crimes by an enemy of the United States, and that person is arrested and taken to the Hague, the arrest is an act of war against the U.S. (Ditto any country trying to arrest an official of an enemy country. I can think of the Greeks trying to arrest Turk officials, for example.)

That's a joke right? Arresting a foreign national for crimes he commited and putting him on trial isn't an act of war.

It's only an act of war if that person happends to be a governement official (president, minister, MP, diplomat, etc).

If the Dutch refuse to turn the American over to the United Stares, they too have committed an act of war.

The Dutch have no control over this matter, same with embassies.

The Dutch may have no idea what kind of quicksand they have just stepped into.

The dutch don't control the court.

And what quicksand? Do you honestly expect the US to go to war with Holland, and thus the rest of Europe, over this? Of course not. If an American is arrested, all the US can do is whine and whine some more.

Can you imagine the Secretary of State on an official mission to Greece, for example, being arrested and taken to the Hague?

sitting governement officials are excluded of course. but a man like Kissinger isn't. Nor are American soldiers. And Bush is protected, for as long as he remains in office.

[rah]

Originally I thought the US should have signed this agreement. But thanks to all the comments by the euroknowitalls here, I now understand why we didn't.

RAH

[TCO]

SEE!! Marcus, you need to be a bit more sneaky. Seriously!

[Saint Marcus]

The congress can't tell the President to take military action, silly.

Bush is threathening to sign that clause.

[rah]

For clarification, I was talking about the world court issue, not any hairbrained thoughts that come from Helms.

RAH

[Ned]

I suspect, Saint Marcus, we could head off threats to arrest American officials and soldiers by stating that such an arrest will be deemed an Act of War on the United States - just in case it was not clear to begin with.

I would assume any ashole nation that tried to arrest Kissinger would be faced with a total breakdown of relations with the U.S., if not worse. I do fully expect U.S. forces would act to resue Kissinger if diplomacy were not to work.

[TCO]

Agreed. We should not enter the World Court with the Helms Amendment. Better not to join at all.

[rah]

Agreed. And I'd like to thank all those here for clarifying why.

[Colonâ„¢]

Originally posted by Lincoln
The EU would love to get its hands on Ariel Sharone and lock him up for trial for example and some would like to drag Ronald Reagan to the Hague. It is probably best to just play judge and jury for your own people. Once it starts there will be no end to the pompous trials of whoever differs ideologically from Europe. Why don't you try Arrafat for a starter?

A charge was filed against Arafat in Belgian courts, using the same genocide-law as is the case with the charge against Sharon, and a charge against Saddam has also been laid down.

And FYI, no European govt is involved with any of the accusers, who are usually victims of the accused his real or perceived wrongdoing.

[Bereta_Eder]

you are so far behind Saint Marcus...

US has given authorisation to its secret services to KILL anybody they deem dangerous in ANY sovereign country of the world...

(if you want the source you're going to have to wait a few days untill I can get my hands on the book and the US FILED decision on that matter)

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by paiktis22
you are so far behind Saint Marcus...

US has given authorisation to its secret services to KILL anybody they deem dangerous in ANY sovereign country of the world...

(if you want the source you're going to have to wait a few days untill I can get my hands on the book and the US FILED decision on that matter)

This book wasn't printed in Egypt was it?

[Bereta_Eder]

don't worry it is published by a well known journalist who has been covering international relations for like 30 years now.

i might have "misspelled" one or two words though

[Bereta_Eder]

BTW Did you know that Tenet, the chief of your CIA is greek?
yeah
and so is Tomy Lee, you know the guy with pamela anderson?

no relation though

[Lincoln]

Filing a charge is not the same thing as going ahead with the prosecution. I really do not know what charges the WC will pursue against whom. And I would not like to give them that discretion. I think that after WW2 the world was justified in trying war criminals because it was so obvious but this tribunal seems to have too much discretion. By the way, does anyone know of a good website that follows the Milosovich trial with transcripts etc.?

[faded glory]

Gosh I love how I am collectively ignored!