The Trump Administration took a bold, pro-war crimes stand yesterday.

The United States will revoke or deny visas to International Criminal Court (ICC) personnel seeking to investigate possible war crimes by US forces or allies in Afghanistan, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said.

"The ICC is attacking America's rule of law," Pompeo told reporters in Washington on Friday.

"I'm announcing a policy of US visa restrictions on those individuals directly responsible for any ICC investigation of US personnel.

"We are determined to protect the American and allied military and civilian personnel from living in fear of unjust prosecution for actions taken to defend our great nation."

Virtually every sentence of this article reveals a hypocritical contradiction.

For starters, ICC personnel are seeking to investigate possible war crimes in Afghanistan. The Afghanistan government is a member country of the ICC, and thus is legally obligated to cooperate with the investigation.
By denying visas to ICC personnel attempting to visit Afghanistan we are preventing Afghanistan from abiding by the rule of law.
And who are we to deny visas to anyone attempting to visit Afghanistan? That has puppet government written all over it.

US officials have long regarded the Netherlands-based ICC with hostility, arguing that American courts are capable of handling any allegations against US forces, and Pompeo framed the action against the ICC as necessary to prevent the international tribunal from infringing on US sovereignty.

"These visa restrictions may also be used to deter ICC efforts to pursue allied personnel, including Israelis, without allies' consent," he added.

Almost every one of our NATO allies in Afghanistan is an ICC member, and thus legally obligated to cooperate with the investigation.
Israel is not in Afghanistan.

As for "American courts are capable of handling any allegations against US forces".
We are all aware how the Pentagon covered up the My Lai Massacre, and the Abu Ghraib torture.

Pompeo said the policy was already being implemented but would not elaborate, citing visa privacy laws.

"These visa restrictions will not be the end of our efforts," he said. "We're prepared to take additional steps, including economic sanctions, if the ICC does not change its course."

Oh, sure. Sanction an international court doing its legal duty to investigate your war crimes.
That doesn't look bad at all!

Al Jazeera's Patty Culhane, reporting from Washington, said ICC investigators were also seeking to probe the US military's conduct "not just in Afghanistan, but also in black sites that we now know was spread across the globe, where [people] were held in secret detention for months, and where some say detainees were tortured".

Supporters of the court slammed Pompeo's announcement on Friday.

Human Rights Watch called it "a thuggish attempt to penalise investigators" at the ICC.

"The Trump administration is trying an end run around accountability," it said.

"Taking action against those who work for the ICC sends a clear message to torturers and murderers alike: Their crimes may continue unchecked."

Amnesty International described the move as "the latest attack on international justice and international institutions by an administration hellbent on rolling back human rights protections".

The American Civil Liberties Union, which represents three people before the ICC who say they were tortured in Afghanistan, called the decision "misguided and dangerous" and "an unprecedented attempt to skirt international accountability for well-documented war crimes that haunt our clients to this day".

Are you feelin' that American Pride?