The U.S. finally sees the point of the International Criminal Court

[pecksniff]

WaPo.

As more accounts of apparent Russian atrocities emerge from Ukraine, many American political leaders are developing a surprising new interest in the International Criminal Court, which was established in 2002 to try international crimes.

In early March, a Senate resolution sponsored by members of both parties — with the effort being led by Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) — speaks of the ICC with great respect, describing it as “an international tribunal that seeks to uphold the rule of law, especially in areas where no rule of law exists.” The resolution encouraged member states to petition the ICC to authorize any and all “investigations into war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Russian Armed Forces and their proxies and President Putin’s military commanders, at the direction of President Vladimir Putin.”

Reading this robust endorsement of the ICC’s role in enforcing international norms, it would have been easy to forget that not long ago, the United States levied sanctions — usually reserved for those who violate international law rather than those who enforce it — on the then-ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and other ICC personnel. President Donald Trump ordered the sanctions in June 2020, a few months after the pretrial chamber of the ICC authorized Bensouda to investigate the possibility that war crimes and crimes against humanity were committed by U.S., Afghan and Taliban forces in Afghanistan and at various CIA black sites in nations that were party to the ICC.

The sanction made good on threats that Trump’s national security adviser John Bolton had made in 2018 in a speech before the Federalist Society, where he argued that the ICC, by investigating U.S. actions in Afghanistan, “unacceptably threatens American sovereignty and U.S. national security interests.” The United States lifted the sanctions in April 2021, after U.S. pressure caused the court to drop the case.

I recall an episode of The West Wing where one of the president's staff was all for the U.S. joining the ICC, until it was pointed out to him that he himself might conceivably be tried by it for his conduct in Vietnam (which was not described as especially egregious).

 

[JohnnySavage]

Another worthless international organization the American tax payer will be stuck paying the bill for.

 

[Champakian]

So, the Biden Administration is behaving like a Socialist Nation would.

And yet, whenever the Left is labeled Socialist, they take great umbrage.

Go figure...

 

[Champakian]

I don't get my politics from Sitcoms.

I stick to Goldie Hawn movies...

 

[MKvDeepSea]

Hmmm...would that mean George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, both of whom were charged, tried and found guilty by the ICC, would be taken into custody?

 

[ll74]

It would add credibility to cases where e call out international criminal behavior, but I don't think we'll ever join..

 

[Rightguide]

Peck is dreaming again.

 

[the_single_gal_unconfidential]

now we know what those poor Vietnamese went thru.

and those Iraqis in that shock n awesome shit.