U.S. War Crimes In Afghanistan

Three months ago the International Criminal Court began collecting testimony for prosecuting war crimes that happened in Afghanistan during our 16 years of occupation. They probably didn't expect what would happen.

More than one million statements from Afghan people and organizations have been submitted to the International Criminal Court alleging war crimes were committed by several actors in the country including the U.S. military, the CIA, Afghan forces and the Taliban, local groups working with the Hague-based tribunal said Friday.
Abdul Wadood Pedram, an official at the Kabul-based Human Rights and Eradication of Violence Organization, told the Associated Press Friday that his group has knowledge of the groups and individuals who submitted the 1.17 million statements to the court over the past three months.
"It is shocking there are so many," Pedram said, noting that in some instances, whole villages were represented. "It shows how the justice system in Afghanistan is not bringing justice for the victims and their families."

Holy F*ck.
Nearly 1.2 million statements for war crimes. That's incredible, and yet that is likely an understatement.

Pedram told the AP that since in some cases one statement represents multiple people or whole village, the number of people seeking the war crimes probe could amount to several millions.
Individuals and organizations who have spoken to media over the past few months documented many cases of extrajudicial killings, torture and persecution by local and foreign actors including warlords connected to the Afghan government as well as the CIA and the U.S. military.

Granted, at least half of those statements are against the Taleban, and most of the rest will be against our Afghan allies.
But if only a couple percent are against U.S. forces, that's still thousands upon thousands of war crimes.
And then Trump tripled the bombing of Afghanistan.

Since the United States is not a member of the ICC, we don't have to cooperate with any of their rulings. However, since the crimes happened in a member state, any American that is indicted and travelling overseas can be arrested.
When I did a search for this story, there were no major American news outlets reporting it. I know. Shocking.

In related news, the Department of Defense Inspector General released a report yesterday while you were distracted by Russiagate.

The Department of Defense Inspector General released a report Friday saying that “no significant progress” had been made in 2017 toward Afghan authorities’ stated goal of bringing 80 percent of the country’s population under government control amid a Taliban insurgency.
The report found little evidence to support comments that the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Army Gen. John W. Nicholson Jr., and other top U.S. officials made late last year, arguing that U.S.-backed troops had “turned the corner” and gained momentum in their fight against the Taliban.

What? More bombs don't solve things? But it worked so well in Vietnam.

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Is it only Assad that can't gas Syrians?

Six civilians suffered breathing difficulties and other symptoms indicative of poison gas inhalation after an attack launched by Turkey on the Kurdish-controlled enclave of Afrin, local doctors and Syria's state-run news agency reported Saturday.

Jiwan Mohammed, a doctor at Afrin's main hospital, said the facility was treating six people who had been poisoned who arrived Friday night from the village of Arandi after it was attacked by Turkish troops. Another doctor, Nouri Qenber, said the victims suffered shortness of breath, vomiting and skin rashes. One of the victims had dilated pupils, he said, quoting one of the rescuers. Both spoke to The Associated Press via messaging service.

When do we bomb a Turkish airfield?

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CB's picture

@gjohnsit
to teach them a lesson.

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Pluto's Republic's picture

All other atrocities are footnotes.

Anyone who is not clear on this should answer this honestly:

If a rogue splinter of a Chechen gang managed to blow up two buildings in the Kremlin, and if turned out the splinter gang might have been operating somewhere in Montana's outback, do the Russians have a moral right to invade the United States, destroy the nation, and murder any Americans who object?

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The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
lotlizard's picture

@Pluto's Republic  
back when Democrats were backpedalling on Iraq and blaming it on Dubya, while still praising the invasion of Afghanistan as “the good war” and “the right war.”

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Pluto's Republic's picture

@lotlizard

Christ, this is a lonely road. Haven't seen you around and I've missed you.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato