BRUSSELS, June 13 (UPI) -- The United States will move NATO headquarters out of Brussels if Belgium doesn't rescind war crimes laws, a report said Friday.
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made the threat Thursday, saying Belgium should revoke legislation giving its courts the power to prosecute foreigners for alleged war crimes committed anywhere in the world.
The London Telegraph reported Rumsfeld said Washington had already decided to block funding for NATO's new buildings to protest the harassment of Americans by left-wing Belgian lawyers "trying to score political points."
The dispute overshadowed the NATO summit, which was supposed to repair the damage over Iraq and transform NATO from a Cold War dinosaur into a nimble strike force.
Instead of a static alliance built to resist the onslaught of Russian tanks, it will now focus on a 20,000-strong rapid reaction force able to operate worldwide within 30 days, and an elite commando unit ready in just five days.
