Steve Russell: National sovereignty cannot cloak all evil conduct

In a very real sense, the United States of America originated the idea that the sovereignty of a Westphalian nation-state cannot cloak all evil conduct, that there is some evil so egregious that recognizing it as such is prerequisite to claiming the mantle of civilization. And if, as to evil of that magnitude, "we know it when we see it," we still labor under the obligation to explain our judgment.

The wound Nuremberg left on national sovereignty is of no less consequence than the wound Magna Carta left on the divine right of kings.

All the more reason to mourn the U.S. these days assuming the role of the lion at the gate to defend national sovereignty. We became moral outliers when President George W. Bush "unsigned" the Rome Statute for an International Criminal Court, a treaty that essentially waived any claim of national sovereignty in cases of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. The signers also undertook to add the crime of aggression when it became possible to agree on a binding definition.

We were present at the creation in Nuremberg of this leap forward for justice. Now, the project proceeds without us. Americans are less likely to be at counsel table or on the bench than to be in the dock. If the second Iraq War was not a case of aggression by the United States as clear as the aggression by President Andrew Jackson against the Cherokee Nation, I am not clear what definition will satisfy the world.

This failure of leadership carries as much shame as the original action in Nuremberg carried pride. Neither the explosion of the deficit nor the unleashing of Wall Street greed nor even the invasion of Iraq represents the worst action of the Bush 43 White House.