The U.S. gives the international community a big middle finger

This is a very interesting and disturbing tidbit of information that I’m sure few Americans know about. In 2002, the American Service-Member’s Protection Act (ASPA) was passed by Congress and became federal law. Sponsored by notorious racist Jesse Helms (R-NC) and the slimy Tom DeLay (R-TX), the law aims “to protect United States military personnel and other elected and appointed officials of the United States government against criminal prosecution by an international criminal court to which the United States is not party.”

The law states that the president must us “all means necessary and appropriate to bring about the release of any U.S. or allied personnel being detained or imprisoned by, on behalf of, or at the request of the International Criminal Court.” It prohibits extradition of any U.S. citizen to the Court. In other words, the United States has declared itself above international law and should the International Criminal Court even attempt to convict an American, the law gives the President the power to invade the Netherlands to free the accused.

The law becomes relevant as more and more evidence of American’s using torture comes to light. Despite breaking international laws and treaties, the perpetrators can be assured that they will never be held accountable by the rest of the world. In fact, the law was created specifically because the government knew that there were illegal tactics being used by the CIA and the military in the early years of the war on terror. The ASPA was a “cover our ass” law to protect Americans from justice.

Is it as discouraging to you as it is to me that I live in a country that feels the need to pass such a law?

Drone strikes violate international law and should be stopped

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have issued a joint report calling for those in charge of U.S. drone strikes in the Middle East to be tried for war crimes. I totally support this effort.

“The report is issued in conjunction with an investigation by Human Rights Watch detailing missile attacks in Yemen which the group believes could contravene the laws of armed conflict, international human rights law and Barack Obama's own guidelines on drones.”

Drone attacks are nothing but high-tech terrorism. Bombs can make no judgment about whom they kill, and anyone in the vicinity of an attack, man woman or child, is going to be collateral damage. And on top of everything else, our government is lying to us about the number of civilians hurt and killed by these attacks.

I don’t know much about international law, but it’s always been hard for me to believe that a drone strike in another country wasn’t a crime. If it happened here, we’d be at the UN and the World Court within hours, after retaliatory bombings, of course.

The war on terror continues to be used by the U.S. as justification for all manner of illegal and immoral activities around the world. How long will we allow this to continue?