[T]he Bush administration is threatening to yank U.S. support from this and all peacekeeping operations around the world if U.S. soldiers are not granted immunity from the ICC. The administration fears that, absent such immunity, anti-American judges will haul our soldiers into the dock.
Court supporters argue these worries are unfounded. 
For an American to be tried, a panel of eminent international judges would have to charge that he or she had carried out genocide, “systematic and widespread” crimes against humanity or war crimes. Only if the U.S. justice system itself then refused to investigate these alleged attacks would the ICC be able to proceed.
Until the court becomes functional and proves itself, neither side will be able to prove its point. But while the Bush administration focuses on the risks posed by the court, it has devoted virtually no time considering the ways the ICC could benefit the U.S. ...
With the permanent International Criminal Court no more than a week old, it is far too early to assume it will become the virulently anti-American institution that administration officials fear. The best way for the U.S. to guard against this is to reserve self-fulfilling judgment and work with the court to supply advice on personnel and procedures.
What one can say with certainty is that genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes will abound in the next decade. And the ICC -- because it is permanent and not ad hoc -- can play an indispensable role punishing and incapacitating war criminals and thus deterring future atrocities -- atrocities that typically come back to haunt the U.S.
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