Why the U.S and Russia Get Away With War Crimes final part

The ICC and the “war on terror”

 

In addition to rejecting ICC membership, the U.S. quickly made moves to undermine the court. In 2002, under then-President George W. Bush and during the so-called war on terror, Congress passed another law, prohibiting the U.S. from cooperating with the ICC at all. It even included a provision authorizing the president to invade The Hague if Americans were put on trial there.

No, seriously, that's actually a law. And remember, this was all happening while the U.S. was torturing prisoners at sites like Abu Ghraib. While the U.S. convicted a handful of individuals responsible for war crimes during the so-called war on terror, many others, especially higher-ups, went unpunished.

 

When America needs to support the ICC

But the U.S. has supported the ICC in some cases that involved other countries. Like during the Obama administration, when the ICC went after Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Over time, the U.S. referred and participated in the referral of cases. We saw that in Libya. We also saw that with the Darfur situation. And then a tremendous amount of support for the transference of Africans who have been indicted and wanted by the court.

But then, in 2020, the ICC finally began to look into crimes committed in Afghanistan. When it came to the investigation into Afghanistan, U.S. support dwindled completely, and we had a very aggressive dismissal and repudiation of support. I mean, the most aggressive yet.

After news of the investigation broke, Trump issued an executive order that effectively sanctioned all individuals working for the ICC. Their U.S. bank accounts could be frozen and their visas revoked.

While the Biden administration has since lifted these sanctions, it still opposes the court's investigations in both Afghanistan and Palestine. The main argument that the U.S. has used against the ICC's investigation?  That the U.S. is not a party to the Rome Statute.

 

The same truth for Russia.

The thing is, that's true of Russia as well.  Now, with the war in Ukraine, certainly, we've seen Biden insisting on war crimes. The U.S. has called on the ICC to play a more profound role. As long as it doesn't have to do with the U.S. or, of course, Israel, I think we receive profound support.

The current push to hold Russia accountable at the ICC has led some U.S. politicians to rethink their own country's policies. Rep. Ilhan Omar, who sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced a resolution calling on the U.S. to become a full member of the ICC. She also introduced a bill to repeal The Hague Invasion Act that was passed in 2002. Now, while these reforms would be welcome, many countries would like to see the ICC itself make changes.

One of the things that African states have been insisting on is the expansion of the crimes that international criminal justice takes on, including things like piracy, terrorism, mercenaries, corruption, money laundering, traffic in drugs, and traffic in persons, as well as the traffic in hazardous wastes and the explicit exploitation of natural resources.

Whether these reforms would ever happen remains to be seen, but without any changes, it's hard to see how the court can live up to the UN's original vision.

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