No War Crimes Prosecution for Gadaffi 's Mercenaries?

With members of the Libyan army defecting, a lot has been made of the fact that much of the forces still loyal to Gadaffi are foreign soldiers. Some news articles have portrayed them as being ideologically loyal to the Libyan dictator, relics of an era when Gadaffi had some popularity in the Global South and indicative of the historically mixed relationship between many African nations and the Gadaffi regime,while other reports have simply painted them as mercenaries.

Either way, Glenn Greenwald at Salon has the most interesting scoop today. Apparently, the recent UN sanctions against the Libyan regime featured this language

Decides that nationals, current or former officials or personnel from a State outside the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya which is not a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of that State for all alleged acts or omissions arising out of or related to operations in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya established or authorized by the Council, unless such exclusive jurisdiction has been expressly waived by the State;

Greenwald argues that this would essentially include the majority of Gadaffi's mercenary forces. The question than arises--why would the UN include such a provision. Apparently, the Obama administration insisted upon it as a "non-negotiable demand." Greenwald and the Telegraph assert that the move was an attempt to set a precedent that would exclude Americans from being prosecuted in the future.

Are we shielding those guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Libya in hopes of setting a precedent of immunity for ourselves?

Posted by Chip Gibbons