Sam Brownback: “I was disappointed in this action, and until President Bush formally notified the United Nations on May 6 that the U.S.…”

“I was disappointed in this action, and until President Bush formally notified the United Nations on May 6 that the U.S. would not become a party to the Rome Statute, I was prepared to fight the ratification of this treaty if it was brought before the United States Senate. The ICC contains fundamental flaws that we cannot ignore and jeopardizes our service and diplomatic personnel. Whether conducting engagement activities, support operations, stability operations or combat operations, we must ensure the protection of our servicemembers and officials of the United States involved in such matters as responding to acts of terrorism, preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and deterring aggression. Many of these issues and the official actions taken by servicemembers and others involve protection of the national interests of the United States. We should have every right to pursue those interests as a sovereign Nation. In order to accomplish this, we must pass the American Servicemembers' Protection Act, ASPA, which has been offered as an amendment to the pending bill by the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator John Warner.”