US bars entry of International Criminal Court investigators

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

By MATTHEW LEE
an hour ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States will revoke or deny visas to International Criminal Court personnel who try to investigate or prosecute alleged abuses committed by U.S. forces in Afghanistan or elsewhere, and may do the same with those who seeking action against Israel, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday.

The Hague-based court, the first global tribunal for war crimes, said it would continue to operate “undeterred” by the U.S. action.

Pompeo made good on a threat delivered last September by President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton. The U.S. had already moved against some employees of The Hague-based court, Pompeo said, but he declined to say how many or what cases they may have been investigating.

“We are determined to protect the American and allied military and civilian personnel from living in fear of unjust prosecution for actions taken to defend our great nation,” Pompeo said.

-snip-


Read more: https://apnews.com/08e538e370914f6e8243e237dbde50b5

[C_U_L8R]

1. We are the bad guys.

This is so discouraging.

[matt819]

2. Time for other countries to do the same to US officials traveling there

Also, time for those same countries to start demanding draw downs of US bases and other official US entities.

Yes, I know, these are international organizations, and I'm suggesting actions on the part of individual countries. But these kinds of responses are long overdue. American officials should no longer be welcome.

I think New Zealand should recall its ambassador to the US. After all, the president of the US was the impetus behind yesterday's attack. And trump sees individuals like this killer and motorcycle gangs and other thugs to be valid actors representing his national objectives. So, in a sense, this killer was engaging in supported US actions, or at least actions supported by trump. That's convoluted, I know, but we need to see this responses. Look, you're never going to isolate the US - its economic and military might is too great. But you can at least try to isolate the administration and lock it out of participation in multilateral and bilateral activities.

[SunSeeker]

3. Thankfully, the Hague, like Mueller, continues to operate undeterred. nt

[ffr]

4. Humiliating and embarrassing to know we harbor war criminals like a 3rd world country.

But thank goodness democrats & Hillary Clinton were defeated in 2016. We wouldn't want to be seen taking the high road on war crimes.

[denvine]

5. Embarrassing case of

"Do as I say, not as I do". Everyone else should be held accountable except for us.

[trev]

6. Republicans have always been against the ICC.

They demand countries like Iraq be held accountable, but they won't be accountable themselves.

[ancianita]

7. Clinton, Bush and Obama never moved toward our signatory status with the ICC. It's

the true international body for adjudicating what other international signatories call crimes.

But there's a history behind our not signing what wasn't necessarily bad faith. The US's leaders and courts have not rejected the existence or importance of the ICC itself, or its activities.

We don't think we're above international law, since we did sign the Geneva Convention in 1948. It's just that, for longstanding reasons that may be classified, we refuse the ICC jurisdiction. There could be reasons that come from our position in providing worldwide military stability for global trade and other activities, or intelligence that we're not privy to.

What Pompeo said is historically consistent with our past relationship with the ICC when said directly to ICC employees:

If you are responsible for the proposed ICC investigation of U.S. personnel in connection with the situation in Afghanistan, you should not assume that you still have or will get a visa or will be permitted to enter the United States.

Historically speaking, he's not wrong.

[sinkingfeeling]

11. If I remember correctly, the Geneva Convention outlaws torture of 'enemy'

captives. IMHO, the United States has been in violation since 2002.

[ancianita]

12. I hear you. Who adjudicates that. The home country with a judiciary. Failing that, the

judiciary appeals the case to an international member judiciary of the ICC; say, Spain. A number of international indictments have been made by Spain.

Our government hasn't tackled torture, except for Obama's official declaration.

Then what did Obama and our courts do. I don't know.

There's a long procedure for getting this to the ICC. But since we and it have no standing with each other, their investigators can't come in to investigate.

So now what. I don't know.

[neohippie]

8. We look more like an authoritarian country every day

Don't forget that when Trump came into office he had the State Dept remove promoting democracy and human rights as a pillar of US policy and he also had the Justice Dept remove domestic terrorism as a priority and shut down funding to groups that help track terror


https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2017/05/05/tillerson-says-goodbye-to-human-rights-diplomacy/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/the-trump-administration-wants-to-dismantle-ronald-reagans-infrastructure-of-democracy/2018/03/04/8b94d7f6-1e54-11e8-ae5a-16e60e4605f3_story.html?utm_term=.f9cc785566e5



https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article168110172.html

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/trump-admin-will-apparently-not-renew-program-fight-domestic-terror-n926361


https://www.thenation.com/article/trumps-white-house-is-turning-a-blind-eye-to-white-supremacist-terrorism/

https://www.cnn.com/2017/10/02/politics/trump-administration-cuts-domestic-terrorism/index.html

[sakabatou]

9. WTF?

[Crowman2009]

10. We have an epidemic of deifying our military.

The right-wing assholes act like the armed forces are nothing but infallible angels pure as the driven snow or some shit.

[Blue_Tires]

13. Greenwald and Scahill were unavailable for comment

I'm old enough to remember when they at least pretended to give a shit about international law...

[Hotler]

14. Dick Chaney wanting to take a trip outside the country? nt

[allgood33]

15. We set the example for the world to follow, just like white supremacists mass murders.

This is all so distressful.

[Firestorm49]

16. The U S military, or Eric Prince's band of gypsies, protected BY the U S military?

[Solly Mack]

17. Color me not the least bit surprised or shocked or whatever.

SSDD.

[Sherman A1]

18. Agreed

No surprise here.