Above: POWs captured while defending Afghanistan and its people from the unlawful war of aggression and occupation by the United States and NATO are inhumanely treated, tortured, and murdered by United States and NATO soldiers acting on the executive orders of the United States president. This image gives concrete evidence of war crimes. POWs are forced to endure a 22-hour flight from Afghanistan to the U.S. military concentration camp at Guantanamo Bay sitting on the bare deck of a military transport plane. The POWs are bound together like livestock, their restraints allowed to bruise and pierce their skin. their air is restricted by a black execution hood and they are forced to sit in the same position for the duration of the flight. The soldier to the right is obviously ashamed of what he is participating in as he is covering his face. But the U.S. Air Force isn’t ashamed as a United States flag was purposely hung over the POWs.
Note: We are pleased to see the International Criminal Court investigating war crimes around the world and that they have included the United States. We have urged prosecution of government and military officials for war crimes under domestic law. For example, former President Bush and his vice president have admitted that they approved torture which is against US law and international law. We have called for the disbarment of lawyers for the Department of Justice and CIA for providing legal cover for torture. Jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court requires that all domestic efforts to enforce the law must have been attempted before the court has jurisdiction thereby showing domestic authorities are not dealing with the issues.
The International Criminal Court was founded in 2002 by the Rome Stature with the purpose of investigating and prosecuting war crimes. crimes against humanity and genocide. One hundred and twenty-four countries are members but the United States is not as it withdrew its intent to ratify in 2002. The United States has created additional barriers to avoid prosecution including the the “Nethercutt Amendment”, which prohibited US assistance to International Criminal Court parties, the American Servicemembers’ Protection Act (ASPA) and entering into bilaterial immunity agreements with more than 100 nations which prohibit them from sending a US official to the court.
While the current investigations are limited to US activity in Afghanistan they are a start to holding the US accountable for its actions. None of the wars the US has been involved in since 9/11 were legal under international law so all of the actions taken are war crimes. US officials should be held accountable. KZ
Preliminary inquiry finds “reasonable basis to believe” that U.S. forces had tortured prisoners in Afghanistan and at Central Intelligence Agency detention facilities
Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court in The Hague said on Monday there were preliminary grounds to believe U.S. forces committed war crimes in Afghanistan and at secret detention facilities elsewhere in 2003 and 2004.
In a report, prosecutors said there was a “reasonable basis to believe” that U.S. forces had tortured prisoners in Afghanistan and at Central Intelligence Agency detention facilities elsewhere in 2003 and 2004.
“Members of US armed forces appear to have subjected at least 61 detained persons to torture,” the prosecutors’ office, wrote. It added that CIA officials appeared to have tortured another 27 detainees.
The prosecutors’ office, headed by Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, said it would decide imminently whether to pursue a full investigation.
The results of a full investigation could potentially lead to charges being brought against individuals and the issuing of an arrest warrant. The ICC is a court of last resort, however, meaning it could only bring charges if domestic authorities were not dealing adequately with allegations.
Monday’s finding marks a significant step forward in the court’s decade-old examination of conflicts in Afghanistan and could draw a sharp response from a U.S. administration that is set to become less internationalist under President-elect Donald Trump.
“These alleged crimes were not the abuses of a few isolated individuals,” the report said. “They appear to have been committed as part of approved interrogation techniques in an attempt to extract ‘actionable intelligence.'”
The United States occupied and patrolled large parts of Afghanistan during their hunt for the Taliban and al Qaeda forces behind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Further crimes may have been committed at CIA facilities in Poland, Lithuania and Romania, prosecutors added, because individuals captured in Afghanistan were allegedly transferred to those sites.
The report, covering all the many preliminary examinations being carried out by the court, found grounds to suspect all belligerents, including the Taliban and the Afghan government, had committed war crimes.
The ICC was set up in 2003 to prosecute the gravest war crimes and crimes against humanity. The United States, which under President George W. Bush was fiercely opposed to the court, is not a member, but Afghanistan, Lithuania, Poland and Romania all are, giving it jurisdiction over crimes committed on their territories.
Under Bush, officials led by U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, now being cited as a potential member of Trump’s cabinet, attacked the court and legislation was passed mandating U.S. forces to free any soldiers arrested on the court’s authority.
The U.S. Senate Intelligence committee released in 2014 excerpts from a report on the CIA’s detention and interrogation program from 2001 to 2006 that it said included torture of detainees.
(Reporting By Thomas Escritt; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)