The U.S. Should Have Nothing to Do with the International Criminal Court

Many of you may remember the incident.

We were all sitting around one morning watching TV. The Iraq invasion was on. American tanks were closing in on Baghdad when suddenly some tanks drove right into Paradise Square.

Oops, invasion over. That's done. Pull down Saddam's statue.

Not quite that quick, of course, but still quick. And one of the bad incidents of an otherwise good day was an American tank fired on a hotel where it appeared to the American gunners somebody was pointing a large bore weapon at them. They thought it was a rocket launcher or something similar.

Turned out to be a TV camera and when the tankers fired they killed two TV cameramen — a Spaniard and a Ukrainian.

So now Spain has issued an arrest warrant on the tank gunner, his commander and the commander above them.

The tank gunner is named Shawn Gibson, he's a sergeant and I don't think he's related to me.
It was a bad deal. Nobody wanted to kill TV cameramen. But the American tank crew probably also did not expect for Saddam's boys to roll over so fast or so completely. They expected to be fired on and were prepared to fire back.

Anyway, roll ahead to now. A Spanish judge has issued an arrest warrant for the three Americans, including my namesake. The judge says he was forced to do so because the U.S. isn't cooperating with the prosecution.

This is why George W. Bush wanted nothing to do with the International Criminal Court (search). The Euros don't have militaries, so they never have the issue of what happens when one gets put to use. But the U.S. does.

The Euros want to put our soldiers on trial so our soldiers always have it in the back of their mind, "Hey, I could be a defendant at the Hague if I pull this trigger."

This is the Lilliputian strategy on Gulliver. Tie him down with lots of tiny strings.

Don't worry about the three American soldiers. They're not going on trial, as long as they don't go to Spain on vacation or any other country that honors Spain's arrest warrants.

When the Brits in Basra, Iraq, discovered the Iraqis had arrested three Brit soldiers and had them in jail, the Brits went to the jail with tanks, smashed in the walls and got their guys out.

I think that about describes what American policy would be.

That's My Word.

Watch John Gibson weekdays at 5 p.m. ET on "The Big Story" and send your comments to: myword@foxnews.com

Read Your Word