September 24, 2003	Wednesday	Rajab 26, 1424

BRUSSELS, Sept 23: A Belgian court on Tuesday threw out a war crimes case against the general who led US forces into Iraq, bringing a saga that has hurt relations between Belgium and the United States nearer an end.

An appeals court in Brussels ruled that the case against now-retired General Tommy Franks was inadmissible because none of the 19 Iraqi plaintiffs lived in Belgium, the federal public prosecutor’s office said.

The lawsuit, brought under a controversial Belgian law that lets its courts try foreigners for war crimes, held Franks and US Marines Colonel Bryan McCoy responsible for the use of cluster bombs and civilian shootings during the US-led invasion earlier this year.

The 1993 law caused Belgium diplomatic grief because it led to the courts getting flooded with cases against US President George W. Bush, US Secretary of State Colin Powell, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and other leaders.

The US threatened to suspend funding of a planned new NATO headquarters building in Brussels if the law was not changed.

Belgium eventually bowed to the pressure, sharply curtailing the law in July to restrict the right to launch war crimes cases to Belgians or people resident in the country for at least three years.—Reuters