More on the ICC. Jed Babbin, a former deputy undersecretary of defense, has a thoughtful piece on the International Criminal Court (sic) in the Washington Times. His point is that we should not be pushing for immunity for US peacekeepers because it legitimizes the court. I would prefer to use the refusal to grant immunity to keep the USA out of UN peacekeeping boondoggles. But we agree on the main point:

The ICC will be a playground for Third-Worlders that want to interfere with our war on terror. There will be indictments against American troops and maybe even some elected officials that we will refuse to honor. The European Union will rail at us for not handing over our people, and the outcry against us will make the bin Ladens of the world laugh. None of that will matter. America is now in the role of Rudyard Kipling's "Tommy," the Redcoat everyman soldier of simpler times. "And it's 'Tommy this' and 'Tommy that' and 'chuck him out, the brute.' But it's 'savior of the country' when the guns begin to shoot." Don't waste time on the ICC, Mr. President. Stick to business. The guns have begun to shoot.

By the way, my repeated references to "International Criminal Court (sic)" refer to the fact that it is NOT international and NOT a court. It is, however, criminal.