Afghan anti-Taliban fighters watch explosions from U.S. bombing in the Tora Bora Mountains in December 2001.
David Bosco, Foreign Policy: Exclusive: International Criminal Court Poised to Open Investigation into War Crimes in Afghanistan
The investigation could expose U.S. personnel to international justice inquiry for the first time.
The prosecutor’s office of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is ready to initiate a full investigation of a range of possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan, including some by U.S. personnel, according to several knowledgeable sources. The ICC move would mark the first time that a formal ICC investigation has scrutinized U.S. actions and sets up a possible collision with Washington.
Multiple sources have indicated that the chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, will seek to initiate an investigation in the coming weeks, likely after the U.S. presidential election but before the end of the year. U.S. officials visited The Hague recently to discuss the potential investigation and to express concerns about its scope.
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WNU Editor: This is going to open a can of worms. I expect this investigation to proceed, and I will not be surprised that in the end it will be critical of the U.S. military, the conduct of its allies, and of both Presidents Bush and Obama. The question that still needs to be answered is .... will they charge anyone personally .... specifically .... will they charge Presidents Obama and Bush for war crimes. And while I doubt that the ICC will go that far .... a part of me would love to see the "shit-storm" that would happen if they do.
3 comments:
Oh great, yet another witch hunt against the US and it's "allies!!" It never ends. While you might like to see the "sh!t-storm" and find it entertaining, the media messaging against America and its allies often bears little difference than the messaging against Jews in Nazi Germany in the run up to WWII and the Holocaust. Apparently it is going to get even worse.
IF the US can get a fair trial here, this might be a worthwhile endeavor as obviously there is much justified criticism of US actions and much that needs to change. Unfortunately in the current environment there seems no way that the US can expect any kind of a fair and equitable trial. Such "International" organizations are simply going to rubber stamp whatever result America's adversaries want. Even if the court somehow found for America, there would be no mechanism in place for America to actually collect damages or any other compensation from those who wronged it.
Well,
I certainly hope U.S. and allied leaders will get treatment at least as "fair and equitable" as that received by Slobodan Milosevic.
We know they'll certainly do better than Hussein's kangaroo court and Qadaffi's summary rape and execution.
Slobodan got a fair trial up until the time of his passing. This is much more than US or "allied" leaders can expect As for Hussein or Qadaffi's situations, the locals could have and should have handled that better. So far, to the best of knowledge, none of those carrying out the actions against either Qadaffi or Hussein have been charged with any kind of war crimes by anyone. I suppose payback was a real b!tch for them. If they were tried for any kind of crimes, the context of the situation might need to be evaluated and all evidence would need to be examined. Talk about opening up "a can of worms" no one really wants opened, that is unless US officials can be charged of which "International: bodies will be more than happy to do.
An impartial trial might just result in American officials being exonerated. Very respectfully, in the current environment, I don't think we can have that.
As stated, there clearly is much to be criticized legitimately about American foreign policy. If the trial is fair an equitable, we can all be confident with the result no matter what it may be. Unfortunately in today's environment any confidence that Americans or their officials will receive any kind of an equitable hearing is at or near total zero. As such, there would be no real reason to submit to such a thing unless forced to do so and even then there could be on confidence in the outcome.
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