The US State Department has issued a statement criticizing the International Criminal Court (ICC) for yesterday‘s report indicating that an ongoing preliminary probe had found considerable evidence of US war crimes in Afghanistan, centering on torture of detainees by the CIA and US troops.
The State Department insisted it was “inappropriate” of the ICC to even carry out such a probe, saying that the US is “committed to complying with the law of war,” but mostly just arguing that the US had never agreed to be under ICC jurisdiction.
That doesn’t ultimately matter in this case, however, as Afghanistan’s territory is under the jurisdiction of the ICC, and by extension anything US occupation forces do while they are there is subject to potential ICC review. Indeed, the US is facing four ICC probes in four different nations that are ICC members, all related to CIA torture.
The ICC has yet to decide if it will escalate the probe to a formal investigation, despite the evidence. The ICC has exclusively operated in Africa so far in its existence, and might be reluctant to try to take on something as big as US torture, particularly with US laws on the books authorizing a military invasion of the Netherlands to prevent ICC cases against US personnel.
Yes, indeed, whenever there is torture by the US it is only appropriate to pivot away from the unfortunate behavior, and then look forward — to more glorious US behavior of the same unfortunate type. And so it goes.
I find it interesting – and ultimately troubling – that the US State Dept objects to being investigated but doesn’t deny the charges. So much for that “shining city on a hill” pablum.
The USA cries crocodile tears if one of their people is treated badly then carry’s out a campaign of kidnapping and torturing people. I guess the media in the USA can persuade a gullible population it is all OK since they only torture bad guys.
Firstly consent by the US is immaterial, and the US has itself provided the Precedent the Japanese during WWII were not signatory to the Geneva Conventions 1929 version and yet the US held them to that standard! Jurisdiction is determined if ONE of the combatants is subject to the ICC, Afghanistan is a signatory and it is ratified! It also should note itself that the US is in fact a signatory to the Geneva Conventions and it has failed its obligations under articles 129 to 131 of schedule 3 of the Geneva Conventions and the similar articles in relation to the Schedule relating to Civilian Prisoners! This includes it is a grave crime against the Geneva Conventions to make a law exonerating persons from war crimes! Which Congress did for members of the Executive under the guise of protecting CIA operatives! If the ICC was clever it would seek a warrant for the three Signatories to the infamous torture authorization documents by using the the Constitutional action of petitioning the SCOTUS directly, effectively bypassing everyone, The Supreme Court in Hamdin V Rumsfeld in the minority rulings stated the US may have committed War Crimes that the US has not prosecuted or in fact even impeached one writer of those documents a US Federal Appeals Court Judge is proof positive that they have not applied the Articles of the Geneva Conventions and have no intentions to! The reality is that because the writers of that document wrote such a narrow definition of Torture there is significant ability to prosecute on the basis that the wide definition of Torture in Geneva means that their actions were undeniable as well as the fact that even under US precedents there was significant argument that what they had written was unsound! Both Military and Civilian Waterboarding was considered a War Crime as well as a Domestic Crime and it didn’t matter WHERE it happened as two major cases were in the Philippines one was a US Officer who waterboarded in the Spanish American War and received ten years for it the Other was a Japanese General after WWII he was hung, the Civilian matter was Waterboarding in a Texas Jail by a Police officer he waterboarded a suspected Rapist, the Police Officer received ten years as well! Way back in the days when this was a major topic and the Bybee / Yoo ducument first came to light I sent a first year law student to a standard very small University law library and she turned up these precedents in a short afternoon without the Internet! Apparently with the whole resources of the United States Government at hand Yoo and Bybee could not find them! More like didnt want to find them, especially as they are part of the reasoning for the US Domestic anti torture laws signed into being by President Bush SENIOR!
Ever wonder WHY Bush doesn’t travel over seas? Why Rumsfeld will not do it either, or why he cancelled a trip to Germany once on no notice, wasnt because he was warned he would be arrested for War Crimes under German Law using Geneva! Or why Bush cancelled a Trip to Geneva on no notice for the same reasons!
Stand aside when the hangman comes for any u.s. politician complicit in these crimes.
They the u s hanged most of the Nazis for war crimes on a high profile lynching party in Nuremberg since then they orchcstrated
Murder on a scale not seen in the modern world and still at it