The ICC was set up by international treaty to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide charges around the world. The US was one of seven countries to vote against the treaty, alongside such other stalwarts of the rule of law as China, Iraq, Israel, Libya, Qatar, and Yemen.
Over the last 15+ years, the ICC has been going along, doing its thing. It’s not an unproblematic body, hamstrung in many ways, with concerns about both politicization of how it selects cases and debate about how those cases intersect with national sovereignty and constitutional protections.
That said, the US attitude towards the court has been, at the very least, unseemly for a supposed champion of world justice and human rights, largely, it seems, for fear that actions by the US or US officials might be investigated and indictments handed down.
And, in fact, word that the ICC is considering opening an investigation into US war crimes in Afghanistan, as well as crimes committed by Israel against the Palestinians, has led to Donald Trump, the guy who can’t stand indictments, others’ judgment, or international cooperation, to strike preemptively at the organization. In a draft letter put together by unilateralist John Bolton, the Trump Administration is threatening sanctions and prosecution of ICC judges and prosecutors who have the temerity to investigate the Afghan War.
“The United States will use any means necessary to protect our citizens and those of our allies from unjust prosecution by this illegitimate court,” Bolton will say, according to a draft of his speech seen by Reuters. […] The draft speech says the Trump administration “will fight back” if the International Criminal Court formally proceeds with opening an investigation into alleged war crimes committed by U.S. service members and intelligence professionals during the war in Afghanistan.
If such a probe proceeds, the Trump administration will consider banning judges and prosecutors from entering the United States, put sanctions on any funds they have in the U.S. financial system and prosecute them in the American court system.
Man, remember the good old days when the US at least tried to seem like the Good Guys? I mean, make that a country like “China” or “Iran,” and it would sound tonally perfect.
On the other hand, one has to appreciate the melodramatic flourishes involved.
“We will not cooperate with the ICC. We will provide no assistance to the ICC. We will not join the ICC. We will let the ICC die on its own. After all, for all intents and purposes, the ICC is already dead to us,” says Bolton’s draft text.
Yeesh.
Trump administration to take tough stance against The Hague’s ICC
The United States on Monday will adopt an aggressive posture against the International Criminal Court in The Hague, threatening sanctions against its judges if they proceed with an investigation into alleged war crimes committed by Americans in Afghanistan.
The fate of the League of Nations proves that there's nothing new in this story.
Watch your back you"re next