As in: we don’t bow down to The Hague or the International Criminal Court.
Nor should we. Ever. We are a sovereign nation. And countries accede only that which they so willingly do. You either bow down, scrape or genuflect. Or you rise above.
The United States of America is sovereign. And shall remain so.
If it were not for the United States of America every nation on the planet would be speaking German or Japanese, depending on the history or the regionality.
And: “war crimes”? Six million Jews vs isolated incidents? Are you kidding me?
First, from AFP.com:
US threatens to arrest ICC judges who probe war crimes
The United States threatened Monday to arrest and sanction judges and other officials of the International Criminal Court if it moves to charge any American who served in Afghanistan with war crimes.
White House National Security Advisor John Bolton called the Hague-based rights body “unaccountable” and “outright dangerous” to the United States, Israel and other allies, and said any probe of US service members would be “an utterly unfounded, unjustifiable investigation.”
If there were ever an expeditious way to ensure US non-engagement in the future, it is via this path.
“If the court comes after us, Israel or other US allies, we will not sit quietly,” Bolton said.
He said the US was prepared to slap financial sanctions and criminal charges on officials of the court if they proceed against any Americans.
“We will ban its judges and prosecutors from entering the United States. We will sanction their funds in the US financial system, and we will prosecute them in the US criminal system,” he said.
“We will do the same for any company or state that assists an ICC investigation of Americans,” he said.
Bolton made the comments in a speech in Washington to the Federalist Society, a powerful association of legal conservatives.
There is no law which trumps US law. As is true throughout the rest of the nations on the planet.
Bolton pointed to an ICC prosecutor’s request in November 2017 to open an investigation into alleged war crimes committed by the US military and intelligence officials in Afghanistan, especially over the abuse of detainees.
Neither Afghanistan nor any other government party to the ICC’s Rome Statute has requested an investigation, Bolton said.
There is more.
He also cited a recent move by Palestinian leaders to have Israeli officials prosecuted at the ICC for human rights violations.
“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 said.
“We will not cooperate with the ICC. We will provide no assistance to the ICC. We certainly will not join the ICC. We will let the ICC die on its own.”
The United States answers to no “greater power” because there is no such element. Save that of God.
BZ
