"In a classic 1970s television commercial, a greasy mechanic rolled out from under a car holding a $200 bearing that needed replacing and a $4 oil filter that would have prevented the problem if installed earlier. The mechanic delivered a prophetic line: 'You can pay me now, or you can pay me later.'
The International Criminal Court in The Hague has learned that lesson the hard way, paying the higher price now because it did not pay a more reasonable price 20 years ago. The reckoning came last week when a three-judge pretrial chamber of the court told the prosecutor that she could not go forward with her inquiry into possible war crimes by Americans and others in Afghanistan. The judges concluded that the lack of cooperation in any investigation by the U.S. and others meant that there was a low prospect of obtaining any convictions and it was not in the interests of justice to go forward...
First, by failing to build a court with a broader membership and wider consensus in the first place (you can pay me now), it was inevitable that powerful nonmember states would become a problem at some point (you can pay me later). In the negotiations leading up to the creation of the court in 1998, the U.S. had been an active participant and likely supporter. However, late in the process, a coalition of human rights groups and small- and medium-sized 'like-minded' nations decided to take the court in a more radical direction in order to create a court 'worth having.'
Over the objection of the U.S. and several world powers, the coalition decided the court needed an independent prosecutor, the ability to bring charges against citizens of nonmember states, and the addition of a new and undefined crime of aggression. It was a hardball move, and the U.S. refused to join the court under those terms. In fact, many of the world powers did not sign on, and the court was weakened at birth. Now the court is paying because the U.S. continued to fight charges against its citizens, namely U.S. soldiers and operatives in Afghanistan...
Already weakened by a poor record of accomplishment, the court's decision to back down over Afghanistan may be the beginning of the end for the ICC."