Montenegro Safe Haven For US War Criminals

Good news for American war criminals. They are now safe in Montenegro. US and Montenegro made a deal yesterday. Montenegro won't extradite any US citizens to the International Criminal Court.

Montenegro Won't Extradite US Citizens To International Criminal Court

US, Montenegro sign pacts


Why is it so important that Americans can avoid the International Criminal Court? Are some war criminals "better" than other war criminals? I can't see any reason for this...

The International Criminal Court is for all but US war criminals:

Source

U.S. President George Bush today signed into law the American Servicemembers Protection Act of 2002, which is intended to intimidate countries that ratify the treaty for the International Criminal Court (ICC). The new law authorizes the use of military force to liberate any American or citizen of a U.S.-allied country being held by the court, which is located in The Hague. This provision, dubbed the "Hague invasion clause," has caused a strong reaction from U.S. allies around the world, particularly in the Netherlands.

Originally posted by Hellmutt
Why is it so important that Americans can avoid the International Criminal Court? Are some war criminals "better" than other war criminals? I can't see any reason for this...

Don't worry, Montenegro will change that or they can kiss EU membership goodbye.

Well my son is 16 years old. I know I don't ever want him to go off to war. I worry about this a lot. I don't know what I would do if he had to go to war. I often thought about going ahead and leaving my own country just to keep him safe. That probably sounds way out there. But, I'm just a mother who loves her only son. I would die if any thing happen to him. I'm not against our troops though. I just don't want my son to go to war.

Would we be consider war criminals if he went to another country instead of war?
Is it wrong to not want your only son to go to war?
Didn’t Clinton also go to another country instead of going to war?

[edit on 6-5-2007 by Shar]

Originally posted by Hellmutt
Why is it so important that Americans can avoid the International Criminal Court? Are some war criminals "better" than other war criminals? I can't see any reason for this...

Simple answer. Yes. Some war criminals are better than others. For example Operation Paperclip. Personally i always thought that there was no way the USG would let one of there soldiers be tried for a war crime. This just confirms it.

I wonder how many Americans are in Montenegro now. Or whether someone is planning on going there in the near future...

reply to post by Hellmutt


Your first link ain't working.

reply to post by deltaboy


Oh... I guess they've removed the article since I posted. I've found some other links though. Here:

Montenegro reportedly agrees to US troop immunity deal

Montenegro pledges immunity to U.S. citizens [AP; IHT]

Montenegro accepts US troop immunity article

Hellmutt, as far as i know USA will not allow any of it's citizens to be tried on International criminal court. So the fact that Momtenegro will not allow extradictions is pretty meaningless.

The only reason that the ICC exists is the fact that US soldiers and government employees have been given immunnity at the court.

Besides given the amount of UN Peacekeeper activity (unofficial) at Montenegro and Macedonia, id say that anyone hiding there would be caught, unless they were allready preconditionally pardoned as US citizens...

reply to post by Mdv2


Yes, he did it to save his own and daddy's behind.

Papa Bush would be in custody for long in the Hague by now, and Baby Bush would soon to join him... IF we had the force to apprehend them.

Oh, can't wait for that alien invasion. The Force will be with us.

Jokes aside, Montenegro is defacto the junction point of any contrabande going East-West and South-North, from cigs to heroin, from diamonds to weapons.

reply to post by Shar


Well the easier solution would be if your son doesn't join the military, rather than moving. You do understand that a war criminal is someone who has violated the laws of land warfare, and not someone who lives outside the USA right?

For what it's worth, this treaty has nothing to do with protecting war criminals from prosecution. Members of the US military fall under UCMJ for their punishment, and these treaties ensure that US servicemen don't get sham trials in Kangaroo courts.

Originally posted by BlueRaja

Kangaroo courts.

The International Criminal Court is a "kangaroo court"?



khunmoon,
Yup, Montenegro is an interesting place.

reply to post by Hellmutt



There's several issues at here-

A- National Sovereignty- if a US servicemember commits a war crime, they'll be tried in US courts, with US law(i.e. presumption of innocence until guilt is established, standards of evidence, etc...)

B- To prevent subjectivity from playing a role in criminal procedings(i.e. there are certain policies that the US subscribes to that other countries may not, or vice versa- Capital Punishment is legal in the US, whereas other countries don't agree with that, and in other counties they might have laws we don't agree with. The idea is that as a US citizen, our government is going to make sure they get the legal rights they're entitled to).

C- This isn't just about war crimes. It's also about lesser crimes, and it ensures that US servicemembers aren't held indefinitely, or subjected to standards of treatment that they wouldn't receive in a US prison, and that they have a right to a fair and speedy trial.

D- Foreign soldiers have similar rights when they are on US territory

E- Can any recent examples of US servicemembers charged with war crimes, be cited where they weren't prosecuted, or fled to Montenegro?
If the US wants to ignore war criminals, wouldn't be easier to just sweep things under the rug, and have them live in the US?