U.S. exploring possible war crimes charges (& considering oil and gas sanctions) against Syria

[Turborama]

Source: CNN International

From Jill Dougherty, CNN Foreign Affairs Correspondent
June 17, 2011 8:37 p.m. EDT -

The United States is collecting information on possible war crimes by Syrian security forces amid a violent crackdown on opposition protesters, a senior Obama administration official said Friday.

In a telephone briefing with reporters, the official said the United States is "looking into ... whether there are grounds here for charges related to war crimes," and whether referrals to the International Criminal Court are appropriate.

The comments come as the White House faces pressure from critics who say the Obama administration has been slow to respond to the Syrian government's violence against pro-democracy demonstrators.

The official also said that the United States is considering further economic pressure on the Syrian government, including sanctions on the country's oil and gas sector.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/06/17/syria.war.crimes/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn

[Botany]

1. good and as they are making the war crimes charges ...

.... they can go after

[joshcryer]

7. Agreed. My fantasy is that Obama has the UNSC do an ICC referral and doesn't veto.

At the end of his second term. Only way it'd happen before those assholes die off.

[Initech]

2. Why don't we look into war crimes committed by American war contractors first?

What are we going to do - destroy the whole fucking middle east one at a time? Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya worked out so well, haven't they? :grr: :mad: :grr: :mad:

[joshcryer]

9. Libya is doing just fine, actually. Certainly better than the Ivory Coast did.

But I didn't see very many posts on the Ivory Coast here.

[Angry Dragon]

3. Something about plucking the beam out of your eye

before you worry about the splinter in your brother's eye comes to mind.........

bush and cheney in front of the Hague should also be on the table

[ixion]

5. Yep. If there's ANY investigating to do, that would be the place to start.

[LiberalAndProud]

4. I can't quantify the amount of wrong here.

Libya gets NATO bombs. Syria gets "grounds for charges". And we get incoherent foreign policy.

Add to this, War Crimes. As if we have the moral authority to level charges while we so flagrantly ignore our own perpetrators.

[joshcryer]

8. Huh? The US has been slow to act on Syria but it has treated it the same as Libya.

Russia and China are blocking, which is possibly why it went so slow to begin with, they were trying to convince Russia and China to support it.

[TheDebbieDee]

6. Meanwhile the Giggling Murderer, "Shoot-em Up" Cheney and

"We don't know what we don't know" Rumsfeld are left free to walk the streets.

[Yon_Yonson]

10. People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones

Why not hold amerika's own war criminals accountable ... I am talking about Kissenger, Bush, Cheney, etc.

[JJW]

11. War is peace