Reply #97: "Has the U.S. been charged with any crimes by the World Court?" [View All]

[iverglas]

Was OJ Simpson convicted of murder?

You seem likely to understand the difference between facts and findings of fact, or actions taken on the basis of facts.

Just btw, nations are not "charged with crimes". And no one is ever charged with anything by a court.

An action could be brought against the US in the International Court of Justice, by a state party with an interest, based on its invasion of Iraq. Like Nicaragua did in respect of the illegal acts of war committed against it by the US. Like a future government of Iraq might do.

An individual USAmerican (whether an executive authority or an individual under his/her command) could be charged with the commission of a war crime, crime against humanity or crime of genocide (whether before a domestic court in the US or Iraq or somewhere else, or before an international tribunal with jurisdiction). As both executive authorities and lesser individuals have been in the war crimes prosecutions relating to events in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, for instance.

None of this is to say that such an action by a state party against the US would succeed, or that such a charge against an individual US citizen would lead to a conviction. Allegations are of course not the same as proof to whatever standard applies.

The point is that, conversely, absence of a judicial finding is not proof of the non-existence of facts. A war may indeed be illegal despite never being judicially found to be illegal, just as a death may indeed be murder despite never being judicially found to be murder. And individuals may have committed war crimes, crimes against humanity or crimes of genocide despite never being judicially found to have committed them, just as an individual may have committed a murder despite never being judicially found to have committed it.

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