The Taliban and U.S. military are now able to be investigated for war crimes in Afghanistan. The International Criminal Court in Rome, Italy ruled this March 5th, 2020. The Court was expecting a backlash from the United States, because they had never been put on trial by the ICC before. Being put on trial has angered the Trump administration because there was a ruling in a court before the International Criminal Court that stopped the inquiry into the behavior of American soldiers in Afghanistan. However, this was overturned by the ICC, which overruled that particular sentence.
Mike Pompeo, the Secretary of State, has already commented on the matter stating the ruling was “truly breathtaking action by an unaccountable, political institution masquerading as a legal body.” He says that the ICC is “unaccountable” because the United States did not sign the Rome Statute that established this court, therefore, people like Pompeo believe that we should be exempt from being tried within the court. However, the International Criminal Court was established in 2002, to “investigate, prosecute and try individuals accused of committing the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole, namely the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes...” and more. However, the United States did not sign the Rome Statute that established this court, therefore, so people like Pompeo believe that we are exempt from being tried within the court, although there is proof that war crimes were committed. However, while the US may not be a party involved in the Rome Statute, American citizens are allowed to be investigated if their crimes pertain to those from other countries that have signed the Rome Statute, and Afghanistan is one of them.
The prosecutors for this case have proven that the Americans committed war crimes, as well as crimes against humanity, during the years 2003-2004 in Afghanistan. There is also evidence provided by the United Nations that United States and Afghanistan forces killed more civilians than the Taliban did, in the first three months of 2019. So, groups like the ACLU and other human rights organizations are commending the court's efforts to prosecute the American and Afghan soldiers. The ACLU is representing three detainees who were said to be tortured in Afghanistan.
Is there a reason for American citizens and the US government to be angry about this situation? Or should they be tried for their crimes, even if they are American soldiers?
Sources
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/05/world/europe/afghanistan-war-crimes-icc.html?emc=edit_na_20200305&ref=cta&nl=breaking-news&campaign_id=60&instance_id=0&segment_id=21887&user_id=36ae122ced4af3aa2c20f0c6bee70da2®i_id=101474281
https://www.icc-cpi.int/iccdocs/PIDS/publications/UICCEng.pdf
This was a very interesting post because it is a modern example of a war crimes trial and it explains both sides of the argument surrounding the trial. I think that the US soldiers who committed war crimes should be tried, but if America is willing to try them, they should get a chance to be tried here instead of in Rome.
ReplyDeleteI think this is truly interesting since the United States is very quick to put other countries on trial but are trying to make themselves "exempt" from being tried by another nation. I think as the investigation continues, it will be clear if they should be charged or not.
ReplyDeleteThe U.S. should be held accountable for its actions in foreign countries, even when it defends itself saying that it's all necessary to fight terrorism and protect American citizens. The ICC's Office of Prosecution has found that the U.S. interrogation methods, including “torture, cruel treatment, outrages upon personal dignity, and rape” — amount to war crimes. This connects back to the documentary we saw earlier in the year showing the torture and humiliation that the soldiers enforced on the prisoners in Abu Ghraib as a form of interrogation. These actions are unacceptable regardless of the defenses made by our government, and these war crimes should have an equal punishment, even for the most powerful country in the world.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/03/09/why-international-criminal-court-will-investigate-possible-us-war-crimes-even-if-trump-administration-says-it-cant/
I think that American soldiers should be held accountable for crimes committed during wars. Whether not the other country also displayed the same level of violence is not an excuse for our country to treat them the same. The US has willingly put other countries on trial so it should be our countries duty to hold itself to the same standards. Our country can't expect others to obey the laws set in place if our country doesn't.
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