The ongoing investigations into the torture at Abu Ghraib are going to be held up as a reason why the United States won’t sign and ratify the treaty creating the International Criminal Court. Handing over our soldiers to an international court goes against the instincts of most Americans. Even when soldiers violate local laws, our instinct is to bring the soldiers home or at least have the host country give them the same procedural rights afforded to criminals at home. On the surface, these ideas make sense.

A TNR article from yesterday takes the stance that the Abu Ghraib scandal, in fact, shows how little the U.S. has to fear from the ICC. Our response to an honest-to-god war crime has been exemplary, especially when held up to the likes of the governments that prompted the creation of the ICC in the first place. It’s been so exemplary that there is no way that this case would ever be brought to the ICC.

The argument makes sense. We should embrace our belief that we are morally solid people as it were, and commit to upholding those morals publicly and with accountability.

The cynical part of me wishes to point out that this highlights the problem with politics in this country, on both sides of the aisle, about people saying great thing (”No Child Left Behind!”) and then ignoring or shafting them with their actions… “Not accountable” is how we like our government in this day and age…