Considering all the stuff that’s been happening in Iraq lately, I can’t believe our leaders would have the gall to ask for something like this :

Defying the United States, Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the U.N. Security Council on Thursday to stop shielding American peacekeepers from international prosecution for war crimes.
. . .
“It would be even more unwise on the part of the Security Council to grant it. It would discredit the council and the United Nations that stands for rule of law and the primacy of rule of law,” Annan said. “Blanket exemption is wrong. It is of dubious judicial value, and I don’t think it should be encouraged by the council.”

Besides seeking another year’s exemption from arrest or prosecution of U.S. peacekeepers, Washington has signed bilateral agreements with 89 countries that bar any prosecution of American officials by the court and is seeking more such treaties.

The International Criminal Court can prosecute cases of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed after it was established on July 1, 2002, but will step in only when countries are unwilling or unable to dispense justice themselves. It is the culmination of a campaign for a permanent war crimes tribunal that began with the Nuremberg trials after World War II.

The court has no jurisdiction over the events in Iraq, first because neither the United States nor Iraq have ratified the Rome Treaty, and second because of the U.N. exemption.

When the court was established, the United States threatened to end its involvement in far-flung peacekeeping operations established or authorized by the United Nations if it didn’t get an exemption for American peacekeepers.

Think about that last part for a moment. Our leaders commitment to peacekeeping and human rights is so weak that they’d take their ball and go home if they aren’t allowed to break the rules?? Somehow these scumbags have found a way to look like thugs and crybabies at the same time.