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THE ATTITUDE OF THE UNITED STATES TOWARD INTERNATIONAL LAW
for regulating armed conflicts. The code laid down specific rules by which the Union
army would fight the Civil War. It differentiated between civilian and legitimate
military targets, protected the sick and wounded Confederate soldiers and POWs,
and set ground rules for treatment of civilians.
50
The
Lieber Code
became the blueprint
for the development of The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 and the Geneva
Conventions of 1949. Both conventions are now considered customary international
law and are applicable to all armed conflicts, international and non-international,
alike. However, the United States compliance with international humanitarian law
has been mixed. The United States is a party to the Geneva Conventions of 1949
and Protocol II of 1977, but not to Protocol I. The United States’ conduct in recent
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan clearly demonstrates a need for greater enforcement of
international humanitarian law.
51
The United States was a pioneer for the peaceful settlement of disputes. The
post-civil war arbitration proceedings between the United States and Britain to settle
the prize cases established the legal framework for creation of a Permanent Court
of Arbitration. The United States was also a key proponent of the creation of the
Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ), and its successor, the International
Court of Justice (ICJ). The PCIJ was in fact modeled on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Although the United States signed the Optional Protocol to the ICJ Statute, it
attached the Connolly Reservation, which exempted all matters deemed essentially
within the domestic jurisdiction of the United States, as determined by the United
States, from the reach of the court.
52
In 1984 the United States withdrew from the
Optional Protocol after the Government of Nicaragua successfully sued the United
States for mining its harbors and for other paramilitary activities against it.
53
The United States was reluctant initially to sign the various United Nations anti-
terrorismconventions until after the September 11
th
terrorist attacks.TheUnited States
also withheld funding for the United Nations to press for budget and administrative
reform of the organization and to protest anti-American sentiment in the General
Assembly.
54
The United States did not pay its past dues until after September 11
th
.
The United States withdrew from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in response to allegations of corruption and anti-
Western bias in the organization.
55
In 1981 the Reagan Administration bombed Libya
50
Burrus M. Carnahan
, Lincoln, Lieber and the Laws of War: The Origins and Limits of the Principle of
Military Necessity,
92 AJIL, 213 (1998).
51
Srividhye Ragavan & Michael S. Mireles, Jr.
The Status of Detainees From the Iraq and Afghanistan
Conflicts,
2 Utah L. Review, 619 (2005).
52
See
U.S. Declaration Accepting the Compulsory Jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice
(August 16, 1946), 61 Stat. 1218.
53
See
United States: Department of State Letter and Statement Concerning Termination of Acceptance
of I.C.J. Compulsory Jurisdiction, 24 I.L.M. 1742 (1985).
54
Paul Lewis,
U.S. Holding Back Part of U.N. Dues Over Budget Issue,
N.Y. TIMES (Oct. 15, 1988), at A1.
55
U.S. Withdrawal from UNESCO: Hearings Before the House Sub-committee on Human Rights and
International Organizations and on International Operations of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House
of Representatives, Ninety-eighth Congress, second session, April, 25, 26 and May 2, 1984 (1984).