Why is the U.S. is opposing the International Criminal Court?? Why does not the U.S. want to become a party???

Answer 1

For two reasons.

The first - and main reason - is because the United States does not want any of its citizens to be the target of the ICC. Let us say for the sake of it that some of the "war crimes" certain members of the US military is currently under investigation for in Iraq took place at the Hague...it could mean that judges from countries which are participating as coalition partners in Iraq are judging the soldiers of its fellow coalition members. I don't think this should be a major concern in itself as the ICC has avoided accusing British soldiers in Iraq of war crimes and has allowed the British MOD to conduct its own, closed tribunals to prosecute British "war crimes" in that conflict. Perhaps a wider concern is the exposure of senior officials, both military and civilian, to accusations of the commission of crimes against humanity. The US government is particularly image-sensitive, and any inferrence that, say, President Bush is made from the same cloth as, say, former President Milosevich is very unattractive to a country as boastful of its human rights credentials as the United States.

Secondly, the ICC does not condone nor hand down the death penalty, not since the Nuremberg Trials. The United States (on a federal level) holds to the principal of "an eye for an eye", especially in the case of heinous crimes like mass genocide. As long as the ICC does not impose the death penalty in any case, the United States will not support it.

Answer 2

OMG, STOP ASKING THE SAME QUESTION.

The US should not and does not want to be subject to some other governing body. The US is responsible for itself and its citizens. It is not up to the rest of the world to decide things for us.

For example, last year the US Supreme Court decided that we could no longer execute people who are mentally retarded and who have committed heinous crimes based on rulings by the International court. This ruling was a complete travesty since the US is not subject to these laws.

People who want the US to become involved with this court are the same people who support a one-world government and total communism. They want to do all your thinking for you and give you what they say you need. This is NOT the American way... we take care of ourselves and do not need the rest of the world trying to butt in.

Besides, what makes you think that an international court would be effective? We've all seen how "great" the UN turned out to be...

Answer 3

It's a lot more complicated than you might think.

For one, the US might not be able to follow the ICC without a constituional amendment. The problem is that the ICC has different processes and rights than are in the US consistution. A law enacting the ICC may therefore be unconstituional.

Answer 4

Because USA should not give up sovereignty of its laws.

USA is a target of dictators and evil regimes (plus Socialist Europeans) who abuse "international" court to prosecute Americans.

No one in America would trust the international criminal court to fight the real bad guys.

International criminal courts in the past were taken over by evil elements. These types of courts have always failed.

Look, the international court at The Hague failed to do anything about Slobodan Milosovic, a real murderer.

Answer 5

Cuz we don't have to and don't see it in our national interest to have foreigners telling us what we can and can't do. The reason for this is that the ICC sees the world VERY differently than do Americans and any American politician who seriously advocates our submission to the ICC knows that he or she will be thrown out of office and then they'll have to get a real job. That's the last thing any politician wants so they'll continue to oppose the jurisdiction of the ICC over most US activities.