Joe Pitts: “should the United States allow its military and political leaders like General Tommy Franks, Colin Powell and Vice…”

“should the United States allow its military and political leaders like General Tommy Franks, Colin Powell and Vice President Cheney to be tried for war crimes in Belgium? Some bureaucrats in Belgium would like to think so. Trying to be a player on the world stage, it adopted a universal jurisdiction law supposedly giving Belgian courts jurisdiction over war crimes committed anywhere in the world. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld did the right thing by saying we would not spend taxpayer money to support the new NATO headquarters in a country that could prosecute our soldiers and leaders. Maybe it is time that we even think of moving the NATO headquarters to a more friendly country. Belgium should not turn its legal system into a platform for divisive politicized lawsuits against her own NATO allies. No civilian or military leader could go to Brussels without fear of harassment from Belgium's courts enforcing spurious charges against them. The bureaucrats in Brussels and around the world who think they can wield unlimited global judicial power without being elected by anyone should be stopped.”