By Debra Sweet

How to Get Away with War Crimes?
Just don't let the investigators in.

The International Criminal Court, which the United States does not recognize, just announced it will not investigate war crimes in Afghanistan by the U.S.  Not because there's no need for justice, but because the U.S. government will not cooperate.  The request, by Fatou Bensouda, whose U.S. visa was revoked last week, covered U.S. crimes since 2003, when Afghanistan joined the court.

Human Rights Watch said last week, "The ICC is a court of last resort and can only try cases of crimes against humanity and war crimes for which national authorities are unwilling or unable to do so. The court acknowledged that there was a 'reasonable basis to believe' that crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC’s Rome Statute had been committed in Afghanistan by the Taliban, Afghan forces, and United States personnel. The court also recognized the absence of investigations and prosecutions of those most responsible for these crimes."

Afghan villagers sit near the bodies of 11 civilians killed during a U.S. air strike in Kunar province April 7, 2013.  The U.S. military has jargon for this crime: a “blue-on-white” incident is where soldiers killed civilians. (Photo: RAWA)

The Trump/Pence regime has charged Julian Assange of Wikileaks with assisting Chelsea Manning to expose U.S. war crimes. While they may throw a lot more charges on him, this charge indicates how much the government was shaken by Collateral Murder, the Afghanistan & Iraq War Logs, the Guantanamo Files, and practice of "asymetrical 21th Century warfare," as Manning put it.  Revcom.us summarizes in Case #23: The Afghanistan and Iraq War Logs and the Persecution of Chelsea Manning, Julian Assange, and WikiLeaks:

"The U.S. claims that Manning and WikiLeaks endangered lives. But an analysis of the WikiLeaks cables reveals that what is being threatened is the ability of U.S. operatives—people who have orchestrated great crimes—to endanger and kill people around the world in service of U.S. dominance.

For the imperialists, secrecy is essential because everything they’re doing is unjust and against the interests of the vast majority of humanity. In their own home base, secrecy is extremely important for the imperialists to keep broad sections of the population in a state of blissful ignorance and complacency about what the U.S. is actually doing around the world (coupled with fear that any link to criticizing the U.S. could open people to persecution) and to minimize opposition and resistance.

At the same time, the WikiLeak’ed documents and cables that Manning provided also show that far from being omnipotent “masters of the universe,” the U.S. rulers are feverishly working to shore up and extend their dominance in the face of extremely difficult contradictions and challenges. All that has led to very sharp struggle within ruling class ranks and the empowering of a fascist regime,  which is hell bent on crushing its opponents and now using the persecution of Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning as part of an all-around assault on the press and the rights of the people."