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| Afghanistan |
| ICC to probe war crimes in Afghanistan |
| 2009-09-11 |
| The chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) says investigators are studying evidence of alleged crimes against humanity in Afghanistan Luis Moreno-Ocampo said the court was gathering information about possible crimes against humanity in Afghanistan. Media reports said the North Atlantic Treaty Organization -- which includes US and other western troops -- could potentially become the target of an ICC prosecution. The court had received allegations from many sources, relating to attacks and collateral damage, according to the prosecutor. US soldiers acting on behalf of NATO are accused of alleged torture of prisoners and use of excessive force against civilians. Ocampo's remarks come after 125 people, many of them civilians, were killed and scores of others injured on Friday. NATO warplanes targeted stolen fuel tankers on orders of a German commander in the northern Kunduz province. The NATO command said the air raid had targeted two fuel tankers allegedly hijacked by Taliban-linked militants. The incident drew international condemnation and world leaders called for a probe into the air strike. Pressure is mounting on the US and its western allies to pull out troops from the country amid growing civilians and troops' causalities. More than 140 Afghan civilians were killed in a series of US airstrikes in the western Farah province in early May. Civilians have been the main victims of violence in Afghanistan, particularly in the troubled southern and eastern provinces. More than 1,000 civilians have lost their lives either in US-led air strikes or in the Taliban-led insurgency across the violence-wracked country in the first half of the current year, according to a UN report. The UN also noticed that the number of civilians killed in the Afghanistan conflict has jumped 24 percent so far this year. The ICC, the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal, began operating in 2002. Afghanistan is one of the 110 countries that have ratified the treaty creating it. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #4 We know where the International criminal court is located. It is indeed a crime - against the concept of individual liberty, of the rule of nations, and the concept that people are only subject to the rules their nation initiates. I think it would be a very good idea for the ICC to receive delivery of a Tomahawk missile during court hours. Have it enter through the front door, to do the maximum amount of damage. I have NOT given MY consent to be governed by a bunch of "international" idiots. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2009-09-11 22:51 |
| #3 oh, and no rescue missions or ransom paid |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-09-11 18:12 |
| #2 provide NO security for these tools. Let their location be widely known. |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-09-11 11:13 |
| #1 Number of AQ and Taliban identified for possible prosecution? Betcha - token to none. That's in face of the systematic and intentional violations of existing conventions on the conduct of war by said groups. It's politics. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-09-11 08:15 |