SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. (Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Pompeo Reups Threats to ICC Over US, Israel War Crimes Probes, Showing White House 'Determined to Prevent' Accountability
"You'll see in the coming days a series of announcements not just from the State Department, from all across the United States government, that attempt to push back against what the ICC is up to," said the secretary of state.
Jun 01, 2020
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is continuing the Trump administration's threats against the International Criminal Court, saying in a recent interview that the White House would soon be making "announcements" to show the world "we are determined to prevent having Americans and our friends and allies in Israel and elsewhere hauled in by this corrupt ICC."
"Once again, the Trump administration is taking a page out of a dictator's playbook and threatening to interfere with judicial proceedings," Katherine Gallagher, senior staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and legal representative of victims of U.S. torture at the ICC, said in a statement to Common Dreams.
Pompeo's remarks, first reported by Politico, came in an interview with the right-wing American Enterprise Institute's "What the Hell Is Going On?" podcast released Monday.
The secretary of state was asked if he was concerned about the ICC's probe into alleged war crimes committed by U.S. forces in Afghanistan. To the plaudits of human rights advocates, the court advanced that investigation in March despite the White House's moves to bully prosecutors into dropping the attempt to hold the U.S. accountable for its overseas actions, including alleged crimes committed as part of the U.S. torture program at CIA "black sites."
Pompeo responded that he was "very concerned" about the investigation. "You'll see in the coming days a series of announcements not just from the State Department, from all across the United States government, that attempt to push back against what the ICC is up to," he said.
The ICC officially has jurisdiction over crimes committed by actors within countries that are parties to the Rome Statute, but Pompeo suggested the court didn't have the power to follow its investigation of U.S. crimes in Afghanistan, saying, "We never signed up for it."
He also bashed the ICC as "corrupted," claimed the court is wrong to think it can "haul these young men and women in," referring to U.S. forces, and reiterated the administration's rebuke of the ICC probe into alleged crimes committed by Israeli forces in Palestine.
"We will never let that happen," said Pompeo. "We're working along many fronts to prevent it from happening. They're doing this not just to us, but to Israel, where they're beginning to look into what took place in the West Bank."
"Again," he continued, "it's completely inappropriate, it's completely inconsistent with international law, and it puts our young men and women at risk and it's something President Trump and our team aren't going to permit to happen."
"I don't want to get ahead of the announcements we're going to make in the coming days, but I think you'll see, and I think that the ICC and the world will see, that we are determined to prevent having Americans and our friends and allies in Israel and elsewhere hauled in by this corrupt ICC," said Pompeo.
CCR's Gallagher, in her statement, stressed that the Trump administration could take steps to avoid ICC probes.
One step is to "ensure that its military and security forces don't commit war crimes and crimes against humanity on the territory of the 123 countries that are members of the ICC," she said.
If such crimes are committed, the other choice facing the Trump administration is to "conduct independent investigations up to the top of the chain of command and, if warranted, prosecutions," said Gallagher.
"Threatening to sanction judges, prosecutors, and lawyers who seek justice is not what democracies do," she continued, "and if the U.S. goes further down this path, it is making clear that it is no longer a country committed to the rule of law."
This post has been updated to include comment from Gallagher.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is continuing the Trump administration's threats against the International Criminal Court, saying in a recent interview that the White House would soon be making "announcements" to show the world "we are determined to prevent having Americans and our friends and allies in Israel and elsewhere hauled in by this corrupt ICC."
"Once again, the Trump administration is taking a page out of a dictator's playbook and threatening to interfere with judicial proceedings," Katherine Gallagher, senior staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and legal representative of victims of U.S. torture at the ICC, said in a statement to Common Dreams.
Pompeo's remarks, first reported by Politico, came in an interview with the right-wing American Enterprise Institute's "What the Hell Is Going On?" podcast released Monday.
The secretary of state was asked if he was concerned about the ICC's probe into alleged war crimes committed by U.S. forces in Afghanistan. To the plaudits of human rights advocates, the court advanced that investigation in March despite the White House's moves to bully prosecutors into dropping the attempt to hold the U.S. accountable for its overseas actions, including alleged crimes committed as part of the U.S. torture program at CIA "black sites."
Pompeo responded that he was "very concerned" about the investigation. "You'll see in the coming days a series of announcements not just from the State Department, from all across the United States government, that attempt to push back against what the ICC is up to," he said.
The ICC officially has jurisdiction over crimes committed by actors within countries that are parties to the Rome Statute, but Pompeo suggested the court didn't have the power to follow its investigation of U.S. crimes in Afghanistan, saying, "We never signed up for it."
He also bashed the ICC as "corrupted," claimed the court is wrong to think it can "haul these young men and women in," referring to U.S. forces, and reiterated the administration's rebuke of the ICC probe into alleged crimes committed by Israeli forces in Palestine.
"We will never let that happen," said Pompeo. "We're working along many fronts to prevent it from happening. They're doing this not just to us, but to Israel, where they're beginning to look into what took place in the West Bank."
"Again," he continued, "it's completely inappropriate, it's completely inconsistent with international law, and it puts our young men and women at risk and it's something President Trump and our team aren't going to permit to happen."
"I don't want to get ahead of the announcements we're going to make in the coming days, but I think you'll see, and I think that the ICC and the world will see, that we are determined to prevent having Americans and our friends and allies in Israel and elsewhere hauled in by this corrupt ICC," said Pompeo.
CCR's Gallagher, in her statement, stressed that the Trump administration could take steps to avoid ICC probes.
One step is to "ensure that its military and security forces don't commit war crimes and crimes against humanity on the territory of the 123 countries that are members of the ICC," she said.
If such crimes are committed, the other choice facing the Trump administration is to "conduct independent investigations up to the top of the chain of command and, if warranted, prosecutions," said Gallagher.
"Threatening to sanction judges, prosecutors, and lawyers who seek justice is not what democracies do," she continued, "and if the U.S. goes further down this path, it is making clear that it is no longer a country committed to the rule of law."
This post has been updated to include comment from Gallagher.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is continuing the Trump administration's threats against the International Criminal Court, saying in a recent interview that the White House would soon be making "announcements" to show the world "we are determined to prevent having Americans and our friends and allies in Israel and elsewhere hauled in by this corrupt ICC."
"Once again, the Trump administration is taking a page out of a dictator's playbook and threatening to interfere with judicial proceedings," Katherine Gallagher, senior staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and legal representative of victims of U.S. torture at the ICC, said in a statement to Common Dreams.
Pompeo's remarks, first reported by Politico, came in an interview with the right-wing American Enterprise Institute's "What the Hell Is Going On?" podcast released Monday.
The secretary of state was asked if he was concerned about the ICC's probe into alleged war crimes committed by U.S. forces in Afghanistan. To the plaudits of human rights advocates, the court advanced that investigation in March despite the White House's moves to bully prosecutors into dropping the attempt to hold the U.S. accountable for its overseas actions, including alleged crimes committed as part of the U.S. torture program at CIA "black sites."
Pompeo responded that he was "very concerned" about the investigation. "You'll see in the coming days a series of announcements not just from the State Department, from all across the United States government, that attempt to push back against what the ICC is up to," he said.
The ICC officially has jurisdiction over crimes committed by actors within countries that are parties to the Rome Statute, but Pompeo suggested the court didn't have the power to follow its investigation of U.S. crimes in Afghanistan, saying, "We never signed up for it."
He also bashed the ICC as "corrupted," claimed the court is wrong to think it can "haul these young men and women in," referring to U.S. forces, and reiterated the administration's rebuke of the ICC probe into alleged crimes committed by Israeli forces in Palestine.
"We will never let that happen," said Pompeo. "We're working along many fronts to prevent it from happening. They're doing this not just to us, but to Israel, where they're beginning to look into what took place in the West Bank."
"Again," he continued, "it's completely inappropriate, it's completely inconsistent with international law, and it puts our young men and women at risk and it's something President Trump and our team aren't going to permit to happen."
"I don't want to get ahead of the announcements we're going to make in the coming days, but I think you'll see, and I think that the ICC and the world will see, that we are determined to prevent having Americans and our friends and allies in Israel and elsewhere hauled in by this corrupt ICC," said Pompeo.
CCR's Gallagher, in her statement, stressed that the Trump administration could take steps to avoid ICC probes.
One step is to "ensure that its military and security forces don't commit war crimes and crimes against humanity on the territory of the 123 countries that are members of the ICC," she said.
If such crimes are committed, the other choice facing the Trump administration is to "conduct independent investigations up to the top of the chain of command and, if warranted, prosecutions," said Gallagher.
"Threatening to sanction judges, prosecutors, and lawyers who seek justice is not what democracies do," she continued, "and if the U.S. goes further down this path, it is making clear that it is no longer a country committed to the rule of law."
This post has been updated to include comment from Gallagher.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.