Bush to Reject Int'l Court Treaty

By RON FOURNIER- AP White House Correspondent

May 4, 2002

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Prosper restated President Bush's opposition to the treaty and refusal to submit it for ratification in mid-April, saying the United States fears American citizens would be subject to frivolous or politically motivated prosecutions.

"The goal is noble and we agree with the goal of accountability for war crimes,'' Prosper said in an April 11 conference call with reporters. "What we disagree with is this precise mechanism for putting this goal in place.''

Prosper had said two weeks earlier that the United States was considering "unsigning'' the treaty to stress that it will not be bound by its provisions.

"We don't want to cause confusion or create expectations that we will be part of this process,'' Prosper said at the time. "We do believe that if we are not a party to the treaty we are not under the jurisdiction of the treaty.''

The court, to be formed this summer without U.S. participation, will fill a gap in the international justice system first recognized by the U.N. General Assembly in 1948 after the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials for World War II's German and Japanese war criminals.

The International Court of Justice now deals with disputes between states. Tribunals have been created for special situations _ like the 1994 Rwanda genocide and war crimes in former Yugoslavia _ but no mechanism existed to hold individuals criminally responsible.

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