The weaponization of the Middle East by the United States is the main reason for the potential of an all out war in the region and the possible consequential disastrous use of nuclear weapons. What is inconceivable is that the United States weaponizes Israel, yet Israel appears to dictate foreign policies to the Bush administration. By the way, the Bush administration defense budgetary increase of $48 billion is higher than any total budgetary military spending of any single country in the world.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have captured Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti and the Israeli government wants to prosecute him for war crimes as he has been accused of masterminding the suicidal bombings in Israel; at the same time, the invasion of the IDF into the Palestinian territories have caused immense devastation among civilians and the Palestinians are charging the IDF for war crimes as they have been burying alive civilians while bulldozing their bombarded houses. Demonstrations supporting the Israeli government have been held in Washington, in Paris, in Rome and other cities; at the same time demonstrations supporting the Palestinian cause to their own state have been held all over the world.

Video tapes of Bin Laden and of a 9-11 hijacker have been released by Al Jazeera TV; these tapes are inflaming public opinion against terrorism and as a consequence the Bush administration is intensifying its effort to fight terrorism with terrorism by bringing a new just war against Iraq, a war which appears not to be supported by any other country.

The United States has become the policeman of the world with some two hundred thousand of military personnel spread out all over the world, yet we are still confronted with genocides and war crimes. Therefore, it is a fact, that the United States foreign policies are a failure as they promote the enronization of the Free Market by sustaining corrupt governments and waging wars against countries they don't like.

Our world is divided and we need an international consensus to respect our neighboring countries and people. As a consequence, I applaud the establishment on July 1, 2002 of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Speaking in Rome on April 11, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has outlined the court's purpose:

"Those who commit crimes, war crimes, genocide, or other crimes against humanity will no longer be beyond the reach of justice. Humanity will be able to defend itself, responding to the worst of human nature with one of the greatest achievements -- the rule of law."

The United States has not ratified the ICC treaty as the Bush administration is too busy in waging just wars on wars.

Again, we are faced with the challenge of another Bush's just war: the justice of the United States against the justice of the ICC.

References

The Founding Fathers Were Right About Foreign Affairs, by Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) April 16, 2002 http://www.antiwar.com/paul/paul30.html

UN: Effort To Create International Court Reaches Milestone Amid U.S. Opposition By Robert McMahon http://www.rferl.org/nca/features/2002/04/12042002101559.asp

Conference on the establisment of the court daily newspaper web site http://www.ips.org/icc/index.htm

International Criminal Court: Resources in Print and Electronic Format http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/~llou/icc.html

Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court to go into effect July 2002 http://www.un.org/law/icc/index.html