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War crimes

Israel/Palestine War Crimes Probe ‘Momentous Step Forward’, Says UN Rights Expert

January 1, 2020 By Loulou d'Aki, News.un.org , , ,
An independent UN human rights expert hailed on Tuesday, the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) decision to consider a formal criminal investigation into allegations of war crimes in Palestine as a "momentous step forward in the quest for accountability" in the five-decade-long Israeli occupation. "Accountability has, until now, been largely missing in action throughout the 52-year-old occupation," said Michael Lynk, the Special Rapporteur for the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.

ICC Decision To Investigate War Crimes Touches Israelis’ Deepest Fear (Accountability)

December 27, 2019 Jonathan Ofir, Mondoweiss.net , ,
The recently announced decision of the International Criminal Court to investigate Israeli war crimes (pending a pre-Trial chamber decision on the “territories” at hand), has hit a raw nerve in Israel. It is not merely that Prime Minister Netanyahu went on Hasbara overdrive with his antics, saying that ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda is ignoring “the truth when she says that the very act of Jews living in their ancestral homeland, the land of the Bible, that this is a war crime”.

US Leaders Can Now Be Prosecuted For Illegal War

July 30, 2019 C.J. Polychroniou, Truthout.org , , ,
War is gathering around the world, and autocratic leaders are undermining the legal checks on their discretion to launch attacks abroad. With the rule of law under threat, the International Criminal Court recently defined and activated for prosecution a new crime called the “crime of aggression.” The crime of aggression — leadership responsibility for planning, preparing, initiating or waging illegal war — has begun to permeate international, regional and national legal systems around the world. But in an age of drones, cyberattacks, insurgents and autocrats, is it too little, too late?

Clemency For Lowly War Criminals, Free Passes For The Mighty

June 7, 2019 By Rebecca Gordon, Tomdispatch.com , , ,
Memorial Day has come and gone and President Trump did not issue his pardons after all. There was substantial evidence that he was planning to use the yearly moment honoring the country’s war dead to grant executive clemency to several U.S. soldiers and at least one military contractor. All have been accused, and one already convicted, of crimes in the never-ending war on terror. But apparently, Trump received enough resistance from serving and retired senior military officers and former soldiers, including presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, to change his mind -- for now.

U.S. Vets Expose Irish Govt Complicity In War Crimes

May 1, 2019 Staff, Afri , , ,
Tarak Kauff and Ken Mayers are two US Army Veterans and members of US Vets for Peace who felt called to come to Ireland to help expose the Irish Governments complicity in US led war crimes in the Middle East and North Africa. They were imprisoned for 13 days without bail and their passports were taken off them affectively holding them hostage in Ireland pending a trial. This legal action is in stark contrast to the treatment Clare Daly and Mick Wallace TD's got for essentially the same crime (both spending only 2 hours in a cell).

US Navy SEAL Officers Attempted To Cover Up Evidence Of War Crimes

April 29, 2019 Josh Varlin, Wsws.org , ,
Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher, a US Navy SEAL awaiting a court-martial for war crimes charges, was systematically protected by his SEAL superiors for a year, a Navy investigation report covered by the New York Times reveals. Gallagher’s trial begins May 28 for premeditated murder, attempted murder, obstruction of justice and other crimes related to war crimes in Iraq, and there is an ongoing investigation into similar actions in Afghanistan. The war crimes described in the 439-page report and the subsequent cover-up by Gallagher’s superiors highlight the toleration and promotion of deranged and fascistic elements within the military.

If Your Country Were Committing War Crimes Would You Want To Know?

April 19, 2019 Staff, Consortiumnews.com , , ,
A close reading of both the indictment and the criminal complaint against Assange show that journalism is indeed being criminalized. Assange is accused merely of trying to help Chelsea Manning, his source, to hide her identity, not hack into a computer Manning already had legal access to, as the indictment and complaint make plain. It was the administration Clinton belonged to that decided, with the exact same evidence, not to indict Assange because it crossed the red line into making journalism a crime. 

By Not Investigating The U.S. For War Crimes, The International Criminal Court Shows Colonialism Still Thrives In International Law

April 19, 2019 Helyeh Doutaghi and Jay Ramasubramanyam, Theconversation.com , ,
On April 5, the United States revoked the visa of the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, for her attempts to open an investigation into alleged war crimes committed by the U.S. in Afghanistan. A week later, judges at the ICC rejected Bensouda’s request to open a probe into U.S. involvement in Afghanistan. While rights advocates condemned this move as amounting to U.S. interference in the workings of the ICC, it’s more alarming than mere obstruction — and is rooted in the pre-existing hierarchy and embedded colonial structures in international legal order.

New Trump Plan To Punish Hague With Visa Bans

March 17, 2019 Joshua Keating, Slate. , ,
The Trump administration’s latest step to prevent the International Criminal Court from investigating war crimes in Afghanistan was announced Friday by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, but it’s hard not to see it as the result of national security adviser John Bolton’s influence. Pompeo announced a “policy of U.S. visa restrictions on those individuals directly responsible for any ICC investigation of U.S. personnel” and said the administration was already implementing the policy, though he would not name any individuals involved. He cited the authority granted to the secretary of state under the 1990 Immigration Act...

UN Investigators Call For Arrests Over Gaza War Crimes

March 4, 2019 By Maureen Clare Murphy, Electronicintifada.net , , ,
Israeli forces may have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity by using lethal military force against unarmed protesters in Gaza, a United Nations independent commission of inquiry has found. “Israeli security forces committed serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law,” Santiago Canton, the head of the commission, stated on Thursday. “These violations clearly warrant criminal investigation and prosecution,” he added.

CODEPINK Pink Police Serve John Bolton An Indictment Outside His Home

February 6, 2019 Staff, Codepink.org ,
Tuesday, February 5, 2019 - At 7am in the morning, outside the Bethesda, Md home of National Security Advisor John Bolton, the CODEPINK police have arrived to serve Mr. Bolton an indictment for his involvement in war crimes. We attempted to approach the front door, but were removed from the property by Bolton’s security detail. Instead, we read the indictment from the side of the road, while several police cars arrived to survey the scene. In the end, 14 police officers, along with Bolton’s government security detail, kept the 8 CODEPINK protesters from confronting Bolton directly.

Did Defense Secretary Nominee James Mattis Commit War Crimes In Iraq?

December 22, 2018 By Aaron Glantz, Revealnews.org , , ,
Retired Gen. James Mattis earned the nickname “Mad Dog” for leading U.S. Marines into battle in Fallujah, Iraq, in April 2004. In that assault, members of the Marine Corps, under Mattis’ command, shot at ambulances and aid workers. They cordoned off the city, preventing civilians from escaping. They posed for trophy photos with the people they killed. Each of these offenses has put other military commanders and members of the rank and file in front of international war crimes tribunals. The doctrine that landed them there dates back to World War II, when an American military tribunal held Japanese Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita accountable for war crimes in the Philippines. His execution later was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

All US Presidents, Living And Dead, Are War Criminals

December 7, 2018 By Glen Ford, Blackagendareport.com , ,
The daily whitewashing of imperial crimes that masquerades as “news” on corporate media becomes high ceremony when a Genocider-in-Chief dies. Now it is George Herbert Walker Bush’s turn to be canonized for bringing “'a ‘thousand points of light’ illuminating the greatness, hope, and opportunity of America to the world," in the words of the current CEO of Empire, Donald Trump. Former White House denizens Obama, Clinton and Carter also lauded the life and works of their accomplice in global predation, as did the son-of-a-Bush, George W., the under-achiever who wound up out-doing his daddy in mass murder.

The Ignored Legacy Of George H. W. Bush

December 2, 2018 Mehdi Hasan, The Intercept. , , ,
The tributes to former President George H.W. Bush, who died on Friday aged 94, have been pouring in from all sides of the political spectrum. He was a man “of the highest character,” said his eldest son and fellow former president, George W. Bush. “He loved America and served with character, class, and integrity,” tweeted former U.S. Attorney and #Resistance icon Preet Bharara. According to another former president, Barack Obama, Bush’s life was “a testament to the notion that public service is a noble, joyous calling. And he did tremendous good along the journey.” Apple boss Tim Cook said: “We have lost a great American.”

Green Party Urges International Criminal Court To Prosecute Israel For Crimes Against Palestinians

November 20, 2018 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese , ,
Members of the Green Party United States traveled to the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday, November 29, 2018 to deliver a letter calling for a full investigation of Israel for war crimes it has committed against the Palestinians. The Green Party recognizes that the United States is complicit in Israel’s crimes by providing financial support, selling weapons and providing political cover to Israel.
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