{"id":137113,"date":"2018-09-10T08:38:53","date_gmt":"2018-09-10T14:38:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/09\/10\/the-trump-admin-declares-war-on-the-international-criminal-court.html"},"modified":"2018-09-10T16:48:09","modified_gmt":"2018-09-10T22:48:09","slug":"the-trump-admin-declares-war-on-the-international-criminal-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/09\/10\/the-trump-admin-declares-war-on-the-international-criminal-court.html","title":{"rendered":"The Trump Admin declares war on the International Criminal Court"},"content":{"rendered":"

The ICC<\/a>\u00a0was set up by international treaty to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide charges<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

“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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Man, remember the good old days when the US at least tried<\/i> to seem like the Good Guys? I mean, make that a country like “China” or “Iran,” and it would sound tonally perfect.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, one has to appreciate the melodramatic flourishes involved.<\/p>\n

“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.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yeesh.<\/p>\n


\n
\n<\/a>
\nTrump administration to take tough stance against The Hague’s ICC<\/a><\/span>
\nThe 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.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Original Post<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The ICC\u00a0was 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 … Continue reading “The Trump Admin declares war on the International Criminal Court”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":137120,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,715,10,380,1071],"tags":[1721,1077,1722],"class_list":["post-137113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-plusposts","category-crime-punishment","category-geopolitical-brouhaha","category-nationalism-exceptionalism","category-trump","tag-icc","tag-trump","tag-war-crimes"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/icc-hq.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2310,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/07\/14\/order_in_the_co.html","url_meta":{"origin":137113,"position":0},"title":"Order in the court","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 14-Jul-02 4:36pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I've refrained from comment for a while regarding the whole International Criminal Court thing. On the one hand, I've long been a multilaterialist. I've felt the US should be extending...","rel":"","context":"In "Politics & Law"","block_context":{"text":"Politics & Law","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3835,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/03\/23\/war_crimes.html","url_meta":{"origin":137113,"position":1},"title":"War crimes","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 23-Mar-03 1:16pm","format":false,"excerpt":"1. Soldiers who act outside of uniform are, per the Geneva Convention, war criminals. (Though fighting as resistance within their own country might be a loop hole.) 2. Shooting prisoners...","rel":"","context":"In "Geopolitical Brouhaha"","block_context":{"text":"Geopolitical Brouhaha","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/geopolitical-brouhaha"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25566,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/01\/18\/de-public-domaining.html","url_meta":{"origin":137113,"position":2},"title":"De-public Domaining","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 18-Jan-12 8:12pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Because, of course, property rights must always trump all else, the US Supreme Court upheld, 6-1 (Breyer and Alito dissenting, Kagan recused), that Congress can take something that's already passed into Public Domain and put it back under copyright -- in this case to align with an international treaty.How this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":137882,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2019\/02\/20\/the-climate-be-damned-president.html","url_meta":{"origin":137113,"position":3},"title":"The Climate-Be-Damned President","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 20-Feb-19 11:10pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Apparently even a treaty that has the support of major US businesses, GOP lawmakers, and the US Chamber of Commerce, can't get any traction in the Trump Administration because (a) it was originally proposed under his predecessor, which delenda est, and (b) it has implications in fighting climate change, which\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":128648,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/11\/08\/nice-regulatory-structure-if-you-can-get-one.html","url_meta":{"origin":137113,"position":4},"title":"Nice regulatory structure, if you can get one","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 8-Nov-15 9:11am","format":false,"excerpt":"Among the other concerns with the Trans-Pacific Partnership treaty, now before the Senate for an up\/down vote, is that it turns any attempt to regulate the finance industry in a way that arguably reduces its profits into a law suit at an international tribunal.'The TPP, a 12-nation pact with countries\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30619,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/10\/16\/court-rules-military-tribunals-cant-make-stuff-up.html","url_meta":{"origin":137113,"position":5},"title":"Court rules Military Tribunals can't make stuff up","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 16-Oct-12 6:29pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Like, y'know, war crimes that aren't defined war crimes.Oh, well, what can you expect from a bunch of liberal activist judges appointed by goofballs like Dubya and Reagan? Embedded Link Appeals Court Overturns Terrorism Conviction of Salim Ahmed Hamdan, Bin Laden\u2019s Driver Salim Ahmed Hamdan\u2019s conviction for providing material support\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137113"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":137122,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137113\/revisions\/137122"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}