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Possible persons of interest if the ICC investigates war crimes involving Americans

by Lynda Carson (tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com)
Because the United States government fails to convict those in its ranks that are involved in war crimes and crimes against humanity, the world awaits to see if the ICC will investigate the alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, allegedly committed by US Forces and its allies!
Possible persons of interest if the ICC investigates war crimes involving Americans

By Lynda Carson - September 16, 2018

If the International Criminal Court (ICC) decides to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan that allegedly were committed there since May 1, 2003, the ICC may be interested in a number of Americans for its investigation.

Americans that some say were allegedly involved in war crimes and crimes against humanity may include former-President George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, John Yoo, Gina Haspel, John Bruce Jessen, James Elmer Mitchell, Jose A. Rodriguez Jr., James Cotsana, John A. Rizzo, John Fredman, and many others.

As a brief refresher course in history, shortly after 911 it was former-President George W. Bush who signed a classified memo on September 17, 2001, authorizing the CIA to capture and arrest anyone the CIA believes is a threat to the United States.

In addition, it was John Yoo, a current professor at UC Berkley, who issued the infamous memo on November 30, 2001, declaring that laws prohibiting torture of persons captured in the Afghanistan conflict do not apply to the U.S.

Additionally, President Bush signed a memo on February 7, 2002, stating that the Geneva Conventions prohibiting torture and cruel treatment do not apply to al Qaeda or Taliban prisoners/detainees of the U.S., or its allies.

And it was James Elmer Mitchell, and John B. Jennsen who were contracted with the CIA to devise a method of “learned helplessness” which relies on those involved in torture to inflict so much pain on the victims that they would break down and provide information. Information obtained by torture, that may not be reliable, or truthful in nature.

It is no secret that torture is a violation of the Geneva Conventions no matter what former-President Bush or John Yoo may want us to believe. Regardless, on August 1, 2002, 10 brutal torture techniques were approved by the Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice, including waterboarding, facial slaps, stress positions, walling, and sleep deprivation.

Those involved in the torture of detainees even tried to get a “get out jail card” in case they were caught torturing their victims, and reportedly the torture was so brutal that the FBI did not want to be involved in the torture programs being administered by James Elmer Mitchell, John B. Jennsen, and the CIA.

Additionally, the CIA made video tapes of the persons being tortured. To cover its ass, the CIA allegedly destroyed the video tapes and Assistant United States Attorney John Durham was appointed in 2008 by then-Attorney General Michael Mukasey to investigate the destruction of CIA videotapes of detainee interrogations. It was on August 24, 2009, that Attorney General Holder of the Obama Administration announced a preliminary review into the interrogation of certain detainees, along with the investigation into the CIA’s missing video tapes. As it turned out, reportedly Obama’s justice department granted immunity to the CIA’s torturers.

In response to the Obama justice department farce that granted immunity to the CIA torturers, on October 15, 2015, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on behalf of Suleiman Abdullah Salim, Mohamed Ahmed Ben Soud and Gul Rahman, against John Bruce Jessen, and James Elmer Mitchell. The torture lawsuit was settled on August 17, 2017.

After the CIA was exposed for being involved in the torture of detainees, it was on December 15, 2017, that the US Senate re-affirms that torture is illegal in the United States.

However, reportedly President Donald Trump supports torture. Trump pushed for the confirmation of Gina Haspel to head the CIA, despite the fact that she was involved in the torture programs run by the CIA that were exposed, involving the CIA’s John Rizzo, and Jose Rodriguez.

John Bolton and the Trump Administration declares war on the ICC for looking into war crimes and crimes against humanity that allegedly involves the United States and its allies.

Recently the United States threatened to arrest and sanction judges and other officials of the International Criminal Court (ICC) if the organization tries to charge Americans or its allies with war crimes during their involvement in the occupation and invasion of Afghanistan.

National Security Advisor John Bolton threatened the ICC as recent as Monday, September 10, while giving a speech to the nefarious Federalist Society at the Mayflower Hotel. In a declaration of war against the respected war crimes court, Bolton threatened the International Criminal Court (ICC) with sanctions and the arrest of its members if the ICC opens an investigation into the crimes against humanity and war crimes allegedly committed by U.S. forces and its allies in Afghanistan since May 1, 2003.

The ICC Reports: “The International Criminal Court (ICC) has published its findings from victims who suffered war crimes in relation to the Afghan conflict, either in Afghanistan or in other countries. The victims mentioned murder, rape, forced disappearance, attacks against civilians and pillage. The ICC report said victims’ backing for an ICC investigation was “overwhelming” with 98 per cent of victims who made submissions to the Court saying they wanted to see this happen. As AAN Co-Director Kate Clark reports, the ball is now in the hands of the Court’s Pre-Trial Chamber’s judges who have to decide to investigate, or not.”

According to the ICC regarding a total number of 699 victims representations: “All representation forms received from victims are sent to the ICC Judges only. They are also stored in a secure database accessed only by authorized ICC staff. The Judges can decide whether or not to share this information with the ICC Prosecutor. The ICC will prepare, in the coming weeks, a report on the views and concerns of victims; the original, complete report will be sent to the Judges, and a redacted version will be made public, so that no identifying information of any victim is disclosed to the public. The Judges are now reviewing all representation forms received alongside the facts outlined in the Prosecutor’s request, and will then decide whether or not to authorize an investigation as outlined in the Prosecutor’s request.”

According to a final consolidated report on victim’s representations: “The Registry notes that 686 of the Transmitted Representations could be clearly assessed within the parameters of its preliminary Rule 85 assessment; these representations were introduced on behalf of approximately 6,220 individual victims. Amongst these representations, there were 17 forms also submitted on behalf of 1,690 families. A further 12 representations were introduced by individuals and by organizations on behalf of approximatively 1,163,950 victims and 26 villages. Finally, another representation was submitted by an organization reportedly on behalf of approximatively 7 to 9 million people.”

Because the United States government fails to convict those in its ranks that are involved in war crimes and crimes against humanity, the world awaits to see if the ICC will investigate the alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, allegedly committed by US Forces and its allies.

Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com

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by Stop US Imperialism
John Bolton has effectively admitted in a 9/10/18 speech that the US military base and settler colony supported equally by Democrats and Republicans 100%, Israel, is effectively a US territory. See https://www.globalresearch.ca/how-donald-trump-desecrates-americas-founders/5654302

George Bush's 9/11 Inside Job, obviously such as there was 1. No Air Defense and if you need more, 2. Controlled Demolition of the 110-story Twin Towers and 47-story Building 7 which Building 7 was not hit by any plane, all 3 coming down in 10 seconds or less meaning there was no resistance in small enough pieces to illegally cart away the evidence, which is what occurred, killing 3,000 people instantly and tens of thousands more since then with cancers caused by the poisons in the World Trade Center garbage, 3. The bombing of the side of the Pentagon where the 125 bookkeepers were who were exposing the till-tapping being done by the military on 9/11/01, killing them, was certainly a crime against humanity. The Democrats and Republicans have actively together promoted the Bush's obvious false conspiracy theory on the 9/11 Inside Job. See https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2018/09/09/18817381.php

The Democrats and Republicans equally support the entire war machine, having just given Trump $700 billion for the military, more than he asked for, and they both equally support the CIA. The war crimes and crimes against humanity lists apply to both parties equally.


by Curt
"Why is one of the central perpetrators of a systematic torture regime teaching at Berkeley law school and welcomed in our most respectable opinion venues?" asks Glenn Greenwald,
https://www.salon.com/2008/04/02/yoo_2/
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