U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan: Trump administration takes aim at International Criminal Court

[Khanate]

Trump administration takes aim at International Criminal Court
SEPTEMBER 10, 2018

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Excerpts:

• The Trump administration on Monday threatened tough action against the International Criminal Court should it try to prosecute Americans for alleged war crimes in Afghanistan and said the PLO’s office in Washington would be closed for seeking to punish Israel through the court.

• "The United States will use any means necessary to protect our citizens and those of our allies from unjust prosecution by this illegitimate court," national security adviser John Bolton told the Federalist Society, a conservative group, in his first major address since joining President Donald Trump’s White House in April.

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Comment: Had China threatened ICC, U.S. would be up in arms. A case of, "Do as I say, not as I do."

 

[atan651]

This is the true face of the world's greatest democracy - sad indeed!!! ICC must stand up to the US and prosecute US war criminals.

 

[fallstuff]

This is the true face of the world's greatest democracy - sad indeed!!! ICC must stand up to the US and prosecute US war criminals.

ICC bal*s are not big enough to stand up to U.S pressure.

 

[Khanate]

ICC bal*s are not big enough to stand up to U.S pressure.

Then it is the end of "rules-based" international order and back to hegemony.

 

[fallstuff]

Then it is the end of "rules-based" international order and back to hegemony.

International orders in reality are rules based on hegemony as powerful players change rules as they see fit.

 

[Khanate]

International orders in reality are rules based on hegemony as powerful players change rules as they see fit.

Irrelevant.

We are not debating the who and how of Rome Statute. The question here is: If ICC can open an investigation into war crimes in Rwanda and Yugoslavia then it ought to be able to do the same for Afghanistan, Syria and Israel. The ICC does have "a reasonable basis to believe" that U.S. comitted war crimes in Afghanistan.

On November 3, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda from The Gambia, announced that her office had “a reasonable basis to believe” that war crimes and crimes against humanity had been committed by U.S. armed forces in Afghanistan, as well as members of the CIA in secret detention facilities in Poland, Lithuania, and Romania. The allegation was that they had tortured, mistreated, or raped at least 88 detainees between 2002 and December 2014.

Source: Why the U.S. Can No Longer Ignore the ICC (Foreign Affairs, 2018)
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