Czech Yearbook Vol. 4 2013

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THE ATTITUDE OF THE UNITED STATES TOWARD INTERNATIONAL LAW
but Bush left office before the operation was completed. Bush also left the Yugoslav
conflict unresolved for his successor.
President Clinton, who took office in 1992, criticized Bush’s policy in the
Balkans and vowed to end the conflict if elected. Clinton stressed “nations building”
and humanitarian intervention in his foreign policy. He promised to work with the
United Nations on regional conflicts and to commit the United States to greater
multilateralism. However, soon after taking office President Clinton backtracked on
intervening in the Balkans. He did not support the Vance-Owens peace plan but did
not advance one of his own. Clinton’s indecisive policy in the Balkans exacerbated
the humanitarian situation and prolonged the war.
In 1993 Clinton bombed Iraq in retaliation for Hussein’s alleged involvement in
the attempted assassination of former President Bush in Kuwait. He later bombed
Sudan and Afghanistan in response to terrorist bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya
and Tanzania. Clinton, who inherited the U.S.-led operation in Somalia, was forced
to withdraw U.S. troops following a debacle in which several American soldiers were
killed in an attempt to capture General Aideed, whose forces were accused of killing
United Nations aid workers.78 Clinton later promulgated Presidential Decision
Directive 25 (PDD 25), by which he established pre-conditions for future U.S.
participation in United Nations peacekeeping missions.79
Clinton refused to intervene in Rwanda and discouraged the United Nations
and other world powers from doing so. In 1999 he joined NATO allies in invading
Yugoslavia to protect ethnic Albanians in Kosovo without authorization from the
Security Council. Clinton signed the Kyoto Protocol but did not submit it to the
Senate for ratification. Clinton did not sign the Ottawa Convention banning anti-
personnel mines, and did not lobby hard enough to get the Senate to ratify the
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Clinton waited one month prior to leaving office to
sign the Rome Statute. However, he cautioned his successor not to submit the treaty
to the Senate for ratification.80 Clinton won Security Council backing to invade
Haiti after the military junta refused to leave office, as was agreed at the Governors
Island Agreement. On the request of the United States the Security Council adopted
Resolution 940 (1993) to authorize a U.S.-led multinational force to use all necessary
means to eject the military junta from power and to restore President Aristide, the
democratically-elected president, to power.81 On the eve of the U.S. invasion the junta
reached an agreement with a three person delegation led by former President Carter
to leave office and go into exile in Panama.82 Finally, Clinton did not implement the
78 Adam Roberts, Humanitarian War: Military Intervention and Human Rights, 69 INT’L AFF. (UK)
(1993), pp. 429-449.
79 33 I.L.M. 795 (1994).
80 David Scheffer, The United States and the International Criminal Court, 93 AJIL, 12, (1999).
81 Georg Nolte, The Different Functions of the Security Council with Respect to Humanitarian Law, pp. 541-
543, in Lowe, et al., eds. The United Nations Security Council and War (2010).
82 See .