Punishing war crimes

Recently, President Clinton did the right thing -- and did President-elect Bush a favor -- by signing at the 11th hour a treaty to establish an international court.

By doing so, Clinton kept the prospects of the international tribunal alive and gave the Bush administration an opportunity to modify what it considers unacceptable provisions in the treaty. That, in turn, gives the new president a chance to correct our allies' impression that he is uninterested in foreign policy and an isolationist at heart.

As the Balkans and Rwanda have made clear, there are still war criminals among us and, in part because of instant global communications, disinclination to let them get away with it. There are special tribunals now to indict, try and punish war criminals from those conflicts. And if it were not for a special court in the Netherlands, the two Libyan intelligence agents accused in the Pan Am bombing would probably still be safe in their homeland.

The presence of an international court may give afflicted countries the courage to do what the treaty sees as its primary objective -- prosecution at home.

The new Bush foreign policy team has the opportunity to make it work and work right.

-- The Gainesville Sun, Florida, USA