The United States is going to notify the United Nations that it intends to withdraw from a treaty that created the international criminal court (ICC).

U.S. State Secretary Colin Powell, speaking Sunday on ABC television's "This Week" program, said the decision to "unsign" the treaty would be announced in the near future.

The ICC is being created under a 1998 Rome agreement signed by countries eager to set up an international body to prosecute genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Many legal experts argue that an international criminal court is the missing link in the international legal system because the existing International Court of Justice at The Hague handles only litigation between states, not individuals.

The absence of the ICC has allowed many crimes against humanity like the killing of an estimated two million people in Cambodia in the 1970s to go unpunished.

Former U.S. president Bill Clinton signed the accord on behalf of the United States on December 31, 2000. But due to overwhelming opposition in Congress, he never submitted it for ratification. Members of the U.S. Congress have insisted the court could be used by critics of the United States against American servicemen participating in military operations overseas.

To date, some 140 countries have signed the treaty and the parliaments of 66 nations have already ratified the ICC, six more than required to trigger its entry into force. The court will come into being July 1, and is expected to be ready to start work in The Hague early next year.

In his interview with the ABC Television, Powell clearly said that the U.S. intended to withdraw from the treaty since the ICC was beholden to no higher authority, not even the UN Security Council, and would be able "to second-guess the United States after we have tried somebody."

The reason provided by Powell indicates that the U.S. Administration is looking for a veto power in the ICC, similar to its veto power in the UN Security Council, in order to evade responsibility for war crimes committed by U.S. soldiers in different parts of the world. But since, as Powell noted, the ICC is not beholden to a higher authority and there is no room for the U.S. veto, Washington is going to withdraw from the treaty.

It is quite clear that the withdrawal, which is a flagrant disrespect to the international community, will further tarnish Washington's image and bring about its isolation on the international scene.