For one reason or another, the ICC issue inspires me to write more than the, say, Iraq.    MSNBC has an article today detailing the latest compromise involving the jurisdiction of the court over US soldiers.   

Basically, we won.

BRUSSELS, Belgium, Oct. 1 — Defusing a trans-Atlantic spat, the European Union has agreed to spare U.S. citizens the fate of standing trial on war crimes charges in the newly created International Criminal Court.

Of course, the usual suspects had the usual commentary:

...But Richard Dicker of the New York-based Human Rights Watch criticized the EU compromise as “a step backward.”

...Amnesty International said in a statement while countries may not sign exemption deals with Washington, the chance that “U.S. citizens and others (get) impunity for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in the ICC or any other court” remained a possibility.

...“U.S. pressure has paid off,” said Dick Oosting, Director of Amnesty International’s EU Office. “The EU has allowed the U.S. to shift the terms of the debate from legal principle to political opportunism ... Accepting the possibility of new bilateral agreements violates both the spirit and the letter” of the ICC charter.

I published my take on the elements of the "spirit" of the ICC charter & the sources of relative US exceptionalism in a previous article.