U.S. Military And CIA Leaders May Be Investigated For War Crimes

[Judi Lynn]

11/18/2017 09:37 am ET Updated 2 hours ago

On November 3, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) informed the court’s Pre-Trial Chamber, ”[T]here is a reasonable basis to believe that war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed in connection with the armed conflict in Afghanistan.”

In what Amnesty International’s Solomon Sacco called a “seminal moment for the ICC,” Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda asked the court for authorization to commence an investigation that would focus on US military and CIA leaders, as well as Taliban and Afghan officials.

Bensouda wrote in a November 14, 2016, report that her preliminary examination revealed “a reasonable basis to believe” the “war crimes of torture and ill-treatment” had been committed “by US military forces deployed to Afghanistan and in secret detention facilities operated by the Central Intelligence Agency, principally in the 2003-2004 period, although allegedly continuing in some cases until 2014.”

The chief prosecutor noted the alleged crimes by the CIA and US armed forces “were not the abuses of a few isolated individuals,” but rather were “part of approved interrogation techniques in an attempt to extract ‘actionable intelligence’ from detainees.” She added there was “reason to believe” that crimes were “committed in the furtherance of a policy or policies ... which would support US objectives in the conflict of Afghanistan.”

More:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/us-military-and-cia-leaders-may-be-investigated-for_us_5a1044f6e4b023121e0e9313?section=us_politics

[Snackshack]

1. Good.

An investigation needs to take place and if said investigation concludes war crimes were committed the people responsible need to be held accountable.


Better late then never.

[Fred Sanders]

2. Justice is blind. Justice can not see where her sword falls.

Next on the docket, the desert dictatorship of Saudi.

[DetroitLegalBeagle]

3. This wont go anywhere

The US is not subject to the ICC, we never ratified the treaty. Furthermore the American Service Members Protection act (22 USC Ch 81, subsection 2) forbids all federal, state, and local government, agencies, and courts from cooperating with the ICC. It also authorizes the President use all means, including force, to release or free any US personal from ICC detainment. The ICC has brought up investigations before, but they never really advanced beyond that as any American personal who were located in a ICC signatory country have been transferred to US territory before the ICC investigators could get to them.

[Abouttime]

4. Hopefully this goes forward

And somehow trump will face justice as the acting CIC.

[pat_k]

6. 2003-2004

Under Bush/Cheney orders. (Although DT should also be prosecuted/impeached for declaring support for torture and therefore encouraging war crimes today.)

[pat_k]

5. Take it right to the Top -- Bush/Cheney

The only thing that would be better for this nation would be for our Congress to pass a resolution condemning Bush/Cheney for torture and acknowledging the monumental failures of the 107th Congress to fulfill it's duty to defend our constitutional democracy against a war criminal Executive (not to mention the failure to reject the unlawfully appointed Florida electors, which would have saved us from becoming a war criminal nation in the first place). Whether now, or at some point in the future, such a resolution would be a REAL first step toward redemption.

It is never too late to do the right thing.

[marble falls]

7. And following orders is no defense.