NEWS RELEASE

Contact: David West (west@nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

3/22/2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES -A paper by Northwestern State University political scientist Dr. Greg Granger, "The ICC and the U.S. Global Military Command Structure: Is Cooperation Possible," has been published in the journal Eyes on the ICC.

Granger is an associate professor of political science at NSU and acting director of the School of Social Sciences.

Eyes on the ICC is a nonpartisan journal devoted to the study and analysis of issues related to the International Criminal Court and is a publication of the Council for American Students in International Negotiations.

In his paper, Granger explained how the United States has rejected any association with the International Criminal Court and how the court may clash with or cooperate with the American military command structure.

Granger laid out how American foreign policy has changed since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks to take on a strategy of preemption and hegemony.

The military command structure was originally put into place after World War II and has largely stayed in place with regional commanders around the world. In 1986, the Defense Department Reorganization gave additional power to the chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff.

The 1998 Rome Treaty created the International Criminal Court, but the United States did not sign the treaty until 2000. The U.S. has maintained opposition to the ICC because of sovereign state prerogatives and the status of one's official status. For example, the possibility that a former U.S. president or member of the armed forces could be prosecuted by the court. And under the current command structure, 200 nations fall under operational command of a U.S. unified combatant commander in time of war and only half have signed the ICC treaty.

Granger concludes that there is a possibility that the ICC and the United States could work together in the future to contribute to an international system where human rights are not violated without impunity. This is because of shifting opinions among the American people to favor working with the court and the United Nations even when the U.N. adopts policies this country disagrees with.

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