crap I say.. the whole thing is just crap.. The USof bloody A as caused nothing but hardship and pain to an already wounded country. Come clean and say its only the oil we care for ..who gives a damn about another child dying- after all its only an Iraqi!!!

Does fitting the legal definition of an "outlaw nation" undermine the moral authority of the USA in any way?I wasn't aware that the USA had any "moral authority" in the first place.However it is not an outlaw nation in this case. The law only comes into being if the USA allows it to do so, and it hasn't.That is worse, not better.I recall it was the famous American criminal Dillinger who said the hardest thing about being outside the law was not being protected by it.Criminal activity is made much more difficulty because they don't have enforceable contracts, and they have to handle breaches of agreements in very inefficient ways. The lost trust means that many crimes never happen, simply because the bad guys don't trust each other enough to carry out the operation.States joined the early USA because they wanted law and order, even at the price of more taxes and lost independance. Ultimately, the USA does far more harm to itself than anyone else by refusing to work in international agreements.

DOMINI HAD SAID:"However it is not an outlaw nation in this case. The law only comes into being if the USA allows it to do so, and it hasn't."Domini, I understand that the law is now in effect and the ICJ is online because a majority (or some higher threshold) of UN member states ratified it.And the USA was therefore negotiating a series of bilateral agreements with various countries (where they threaten to halt all arm sales if the other party does not sign) saying that US forces would be exempt for war crimes in that host nation. I believe there are about 30 nations that have now signed such an agreement.As if by magic, the "Coalition Authority" managed to somehow persuade the Iraqi Governing Council to sign a waiver as well. Aren't we lucky that this was signed just before the Abu Ghraib prison torture scandal broke? So perhaps technically the USA is actually an "outlaw nation". I wonder if this will deter the neoconservatives.....hmmmm, maybe CNN will tell me. Matthew