When Muslims kill Christians, as in southern Sudan, Iraq and elsewhere, the administration hardly notices, but when Muslims kill other Muslims, they are willing to lay U.S. sovereignty on the line and reverse a cornerstone of U.S. policy by supporting the International Criminal Court. From the WaPo:
And because it erodes national sovereignty, especially ours.
The shift is related to what may be an even greater imperative for Bush: bringing to justice the perpetrators of what the president has labeled "genocide" in Darfur.
Few issues have symbolized the perceived unilateralism of the Bush administration more than the president's hostility toward the ICC. But as the court weighs a formal arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for war crimes, the administration is emerging as an unlikely defender of the court in the face of efforts by Sudan and others to derail the prosecution.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Bush's special envoy for Sudan, Richard S. Williamson, have made clear to senior Sudanese officials that Bush will resist attempts by African and Islamic countries to push the United Nations to defer prosecution of Bashir. They have signaled that the Bush administration would veto a proposed U.N. Security Council resolution deferring the prosecution by one year unless Sudan dramatically improves its humanitarian practices and takes tangible steps toward peace in Darfur....
