The Poll They Didn’t Conduct
Media Monitor | By Reed Irvine and Cliff Kincaid | January 2, 2003
. . . only 13 countries have agreed to protect U.S. military personnel from trumped-up “war crimes” charges that could be lodged by an International Criminal Court
A new global survey finding growing anti-Americanism was given wide play. It was conducted by the Pew Research Center. Radek Sikorski, resident fellow with the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, told CNSNews.com that the media are anxious to report anti-American stories, but less enthusiastic about reporting support for America around the world.
But another story is what some of our so-called "allies" are doing to America, and why this hasn't been reported. We think it would be interesting to discover what Americans would think if they knew that only 13 countries have agreed to protect U.S. military personnel from trumped-up "war crimes" charges that could be lodged by an International Criminal Court, the ICC.
Congress passed the American Servicemembers' Protection Act to protect U.S. military personnel from the court. The Senate passed the bill by a vote of 92-7, one day after the House cleared it in a 397-32 vote. Senate liberals such as Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer even voted for it. President Bush, who had rejected the ICC treaty signed by President Bill Clinton, signed this bill to protect our forces. It gave him authority to prohibit U.S. cooperation with the ICC, restrict U.S. participation in peacekeeping, prohibit sharing U.S. intelligence with the ICC, and to prohibit military assistance to most countries that ratify the ICC treaty.
The international Socialists understand how the ICC can become an anti-American weapon. The World Socialist Web Site declared the ICC is essential now that the U.S. has deployed U.S. troops not only in Afghanistan, but also in the Philippines, Georgia and Yemen, to fight terrorism. The group claimed that U.S. military actions in Afghanistan already meet the definition of war crimes under existing international law.
In order to protect our troops, the Bush Administration is reviewing "status-of-force" agreements governing the deployment of the U.S. military in more than 100 countries around the world to ensure that their governments do not seek ICC prosecution of American troops. These agreements would prohibit the surrender of Americans and all military personnel to the ICC. But so far only 13 countries have agreed to give the U.S. such protection. They are Afghanistan, Dominican Republic, East Timor, Gambia, Honduras, Israel, the Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Micronesia, Palau, Romania, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
Curiously, some Americans from a group called the World Federalist Association, the WFA, are openly lobbying other governments with embassies in Washington NOT to sign agreements to exempt U.S. forces. The WFA newsletter says its staff members are working hard "to counter" the administration. But the administration view in this case is shared by the vast majority of members of Congress. The WFA is really giving aid and comfort to international Socialists who want to see Americans arrested and placed in foreign jails. This is a story that must be told. Then ask the American people what they think of our so-called "allies." That's a survey we'd like to see.
Reed Irvine is the former Chairman of Accuracy In Media and Cliff Kincaid is the Editor of the AIM Report.
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