War Crimes Charges Don't Apply When You're Almighty

Belgium Wavers After U.S. Pressure on War Crimes Law
Fri June 13, 2003 07:27 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=OXVDNK55XPEJ0CRBAEOCFFA?type=worldNews&storyID=2924554

By Bart Crols and John Chalmers
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgium showed signs of buckling on its controversial war crimes law on Friday, after Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld vowed to block spending on NATO's new headquarters in Brussels unless it was revoked.

Defense Minister Andre Flahaut said the country's universal jurisdiction law, which has been used to file suits against several senior current or former U.S. officials, could perhaps be revised for a second time to end the standoff.

Washington's closest ally, Britain, stood behind the public tongue-lashing that Rumsfeld dealt to Belgium on Thursday, but stopped short of saying it would also hold up work on a project set to cost at least 300 million euros ($350 million).

"I think that's something we've got to look at, but certainly it is a serious legal issue that has to be addressed," Defense Minister Geoff Hoon told reporters as he arrived for the second day of an alliance meeting in Brussels.

The Belgian law, which empowers courts to try foreigners for serious human rights crimes, has been criticized by several countries but most vociferously by Washington.

Lawsuits have been brought against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and, among Americans, Iraq war commander General Tommy Franks, former President George Bush senior, Secretary of State Colin Powell and 1991 Gulf War commander General Norman Schwarzkopf.

BELGIAN FEARS

One diplomat said Rumsfeld and Flahaut had a cordial discussion of the problem over lunch on Thursday. But when Flahaut briefed Belgian reporters on their talks, Rumsfeld decided "not to get mad, but get even."

"By passing this law, Belgium has turned its legal system into a platform for divisive politicized lawsuits against her NATO allies," Rumsfeld told a news conference later.

He said that until the matter was resolved the U.S. contribution to spending on the new headquarters -- about one quarter of the total cost -- would be frozen.

The move played on perennial Belgian fears that Washington may press for NATO's headquarters to be moved, robbing the country of prestige it enjoys as host to the 19-nation alliance.

Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel said he could not understand why Rumsfeld had been so sharp because the law had been reformed to send lawsuits to a defendant's country if that country has a legal system that can handle a complaint properly.

Belgium in fact last month referred a lawsuit against Franks and a U.S. marine colonel to the United States in an attempt to defuse the issue.

Michel said on Thursday it would be very difficult to revise the law again, but on Friday Flahaut appeared to open the door to more changes.

"We should perhaps review the way in which the law was changed last time and explore whether the law could be reprofiled and see whether there are not certain things to improve," he told Belgian radio.

The United States has been angry with Belgium for opposing its invasion of Iraq and joining France and Germany in blocking NATO plans to boost Turkey's defenses on its border with Iraq.

Although the spat looked unlikely to be a major irritant in already-strained transatlantic relations, Germany nevertheless dismissed Rumsfeld's outburst on Friday as "theatrical thunder."

"I believe NATO is well placed here in Brussels and I think the Belgian parliament has already introduced an amendment to the law," Defense Minister Peter Struck told reporters. "So the fear which our American colleagues expressed will be redundant."