A report from The New York Times revealed that some US officials are concerned that their role in facilitating arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, while ignoring the harm to civilians each country has caused in Yemen, could lead to their arrest overseas for war crimes. A Congressional hearing over these arms sales is set to take place on Wednesday.
The report said that officials from both the Obama administration and the Trump administration have considered hiring lawyers to discuss the possibility of being arrested while vacationing overseas.
The Times report reads: “No episode in recent American history compares to Yemen, legal scholars say, where the United States has provided material support over five years for actions that have caused the continuous killing of civilians.”
Last week, the UN issued a report on atrocities in Yemen and asked the Security Council to bring actions by all parties in the conflict to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for possible war crimes prosecution. The Times said that legal scholars believe the ICC could charge US officials based on their knowledge of the pattern of indiscriminate killing by the parties the US supports in the conflict.
The Times story says there is evidence that shows State Department officials suppressed the legal implications over civilian casualties in Yemen. For example, in 2016, a State Department lawyer determined that some officials could potentially be charged with war crimes, and the department’s lawyers chose not to share the information with the secretary of state.
The current administration suppressed other evidence this year during an internal investigation into an arms sale the administration rushed without getting Congressional approval, citing an “emergency.” When the inspector general found the department did not consider legal risks to selling arms to the Saudis, officials made sure this information was put into a classified version of the report so even members of Congress with security clearance could not see it.
President Trump fired the original inspector general in charge of the recent internal probe at the behest of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Pompeo has a history of covering for Saudi war crimes in Yemen. After an airstrike in August 2018 killed 40 children on a school bus in Yemen, Pompeo told Congress that the Saudi-led coalition was taking “demonstrable action” to minimize civilian casualties so arms sales could continue.
The Saudi-led coalition continues to indiscriminately kill civilians in Yemen, as they always have since the war started in March 2015. In recent months, dozens of children have been killed by the coalition. The past few days have seen a heavy bombardment on Yemen’s capital Sanaa.
Arrested for war crimes overseas? Why not in the USA? …. Oh yeah. War crimes aren’t crimes in the USA.
Id love to see Pompeo in leg irons..
On his way to the gallows….
Especially if they restricted the blood flow and made the top of his head explode.
Just like George W Bush no longer leaves the US, there are international Warrants for his arrest for War Crimes, Trump will no longer be able to leave the US except maybe for Britain, but definitely not Europe, as he committed the War Crime of pardoning a convicted War Criminal. That is itself a War Crime under the Geneva Conventions. Could you imagine what the Allies would have said to one of Hitlers men if they had retorted you cannot charge us with War Crimes, because our Head of States has pardoned us…….. I suspect the answer would have been a resounding GET REAL! Ever wonder WHY Trump is so worried about the ICC Judges investigating US Citizens…… oops!
Trump will be able to travel abroad for the next four and a half years.
Only in your dreams!
They should be arrested but i doubt it , i remember the when the Mei Lei massacre was reported all the soldiers involved walk free as US heroes can you believe that , many US citizens interveiwed at the time said the massacre of old men women and children was the right thing to do , as long asthe world at large is prepeared to look the other way America will continue todo as it pleases with no concequences.
“i remember the when the Mei Lei massacre was reported all the soldiers involved walk free as US heroes”
Calley got three years.
Which he served under house arrest, not prison.
And they deliberately hunted down, raped and massacred about 500 unarmed civilians, including women, old people, children, and babies. And he was the only one “imprisoned” over it, if you can call it that.
True. I’m not saying that enough of them were punished, or that Calley was published harshly enough.
But no, everyone didn’t “walk.” That’s just a fact. Nobody has to like it. It’s a fact whether anyone likes it or not.
Exactly walked free 3 years for mass murder and then pardoned.
Sorry you don’t understand the definition of “walked.”
Sweet Jesus, bless China rising–it’s humanity’s only hope.
poster board observed in front of London pub” amerikans must be accompanied by an adult”
Good one!
nothing will come of this, alas, as long as the US is the hegamon and can willy nilly apply sanctions and enormous political and economic/financial pressure on any nation or group that it chooses to harass (not to mention of course that the US has a veto in the UN).
Alas as these massive war crimes by the US, the UK, the despicable medieval Saudis and the Emirates should surely be punished, and severely
Lock them up.
your mostly enemies of the state here, definitely would become traitors for a few pieces of silver. I imagine the feds are investigating some of you. Funny though , everytime the feds decide to finally take a good look at one of you , they find kiddie porn on your drive,, some times it magically appears if they’re ” convinced” somethings there. I’m sure you’re gonna be fine though , you’d think the FBI or your state investigators have more important shit to do then worry about a bunch of antifa wannabe’s who support a rainbow flag more than the country’s flag but than again maybe they do have time.
Damn right I’m an enemy of the state.
In order to “become a traitor,” I’d have to have some obligation of allegiance to your preferred street gang. I don’t.
do tell more ……you should practice the guttman method,,, ,,,,, nahhh, you’ll be fine…
im curious about something……… hmmm
At first I thought your post must be sarcasm, and then I realized you really believe all that stuff. How does it feel to be thoroughly brainwashed?