International Slipstream

Ranvir Nayar in Paris

Here’s the latest on Uncle Sam’s hypocrisy: it has decided not to become a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) that was adopted on July 17, 1998. Unlike the International Court of Justice, the ICC can try individual citizens referred to it by the UN Security Council, a ICC member or even ICC prosecutors. President Bill Clinton had reluctantly affixed his signature to the Statute but didn’t refer it to the Senate for ratification. And George Bush has decided to pull out. Reason: the ICC has the potential of going after US military personnel, now deployed in large numbers abroad. And to think the US wants to fight what it calls the axis of evil, stretching from N Korea through Afghanistan to Iraq.

Last week the people of five American states—Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Texas and Colorado—were reeling under the fear of pipe-bombs exploding in their faces. Seventeen such bombs were left in mailboxes of rural residential pockets; six of these exploded, injuring six people. Each pipebomb came with an identical note. Sample the extracts. "If the government controls what you want to do, they control what you can do.... To "live" (avoid death) in this society, you are forced to conform /slave away.... Conforming to the boundaries reduces the substance in your lives." The pipe-bomber, Luke J. Helder, was arrested in Reno, Nevada.