U.S. and UN Clash Over War Crimes Court

Today marks the first official day of the International Criminal Court.

Though ICC workers went about their business quietly, a concurrent move by the Bush Administration sparked a dramatic dispute at the United Nations.

The U.S. does not officially recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC, where no one, from head of state to village citizen, is immune from prosecution. That mandate has prompted the US to threaten to withdraw from all UN-authorized peacekeeping missions if the UN Security Council does not exempt US nationals from the ICC's reach.

The Bush Administration annoucement comes on the same day when the UN Security Council voted to extend the Bosnian peacekeeping mission.

This hour, the ICC and international peacekeeping — can the prosecution of global crime work alongside the protection of local peace?

Guests:

Samantha Power - Executive Director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and author of "A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide"

Jack Spencer - Defense and national Security Policy Analyst at The Heritage Foundation