NYT: Bush's Aid Cuts on Int. Court Issue Roil Latin American Neighbors

[DeepModem Mom]

Bush's Aid Cuts on Court Issue Roil Latin American Neighbors
By JUAN FORERO
Published: August 19, 2005


BOGOTÁ, Colombia, Aug. 18 - Three years ago the Bush administration began prodding countries to shield Americans from the fledgling International Criminal Court in The Hague, which was intended to be the first permanent tribunal for prosecuting crimes like genocide.

The United States has since cut aid to some two dozen nations that refused to sign immunity agreements that American officials say are intended to protect American soldiers and policy makers from politically motivated prosecutions.

To the Bush administration, the aid cuts are the price paid for refusing to offer support in an area where it views the United States, with its military might stretched across the globe, as being uniquely vulnerable.

But particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean, home to 12 nations that have been penalized, the cuts are generating strong resentment at what many see as heavy-handed diplomacy, officials and diplomats in seven countries said.

More than that, some Americans are also beginning to question the policy, as political and military leaders in the region complain that the aid cuts are squandering good will and hurting their ability to cooperate in other important areas, like the campaigns against drugs and terrorism....


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/19/international/americas/19immunity.html?hp&ex=1124424000&en=7fc9a4e20f7aaedd&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[wli]

1. no justice for Operation Condor, I see n/t

[nine23]

2. "...some Americans are also beginning to question the policy..."

Gee, that took awhile, didn't it? That adage "you reap what you sow" is just so damn complex. Not to mention the gross moral and ethical hypocracy, which is at the top of every decent, Western democratic nations "list" (read: former, um..."allies") of why they have serious problems with the US these days...

[goforit]

3. Hmmm.... The Abu Gharib peversity is a high price to pay....Bush.

Should have thought that one through.