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Guantánamo survivor on the war on terror’s failure

theguardian.com

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Re: Guantánamo survivor on the war on terror’s failure

#11

Post by mrtksn »

This implies the US population being held responsible because the US is a democratic nation.

The idea is, every 4 years the highest position of governance is put on a trial and the population votes if they approve or disprove the way things are done and reconsider alternatives.

Besides the 4 year period for the evaluation of the highest ranking officers, there is an ample opportunity for direct intervention through other elections and NGOs.

The burden is on the US citizens but other nations holding the US nation accountable is unrealistic. The Germans were held responsible for Hitler but they lost an open war to a greater power. The US is not facing such a power.

Whatever happens is up to the US internal politics and the culture of the US nation. The best the external powers could do is to push for events that change the US populations feelings, thus affecting the judgement of the periodic reviews.

Re: Guantánamo survivor on the war on terror’s failure

#12

Post by La1n »

trasz wrote: post #8
blunte wrote: post #2

Key figures in US military and US leadership need to be held accountable. Same as with CEOs, if you only punish the organization and not specifically the leaders, there is no disincentive to doing it again. Clearly the US is exempt from the war crimes laws, and that needs to change. But it would require leaders of other major powers/countries to push for this. But… this will never happen because almost no leader want…

Very few countries are active war mongers, so it might actually be possible to assemble a bloc to try making US accountable. It probably wouldn’t be possible to go after prime perpetrators, but it might be possible to at least start extracting low key figures and put them on trial in a way that US cannot interfere with.

>and put them on trial in a way that US cannot interfere with.

I think that would be near impossible when looking at US laws like the following:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Service-Members%27_Pr...

Re: Guantánamo survivor on the war on terror’s failure

#13

Post by trasz »

docdeek wrote: post #7
blunte wrote: post #2

Key figures in US military and US leadership need to be held accountable. Same as with CEOs, if you only punish the organization and not specifically the leaders, there is no disincentive to doing it again. Clearly the US is exempt from the war crimes laws, and that needs to change. But it would require leaders of other major powers/countries to push for this. But… this will never happen because almost no leader want…

> Clearly the US is exempt from the war crimes laws, and that needs to change. The US is not exempt from laws relating to war crimes. While it is not a member of the ICC, it is bound to the laws of war as is any other state.

That’s an obvious lie. US is extremely loyal to its war criminals - good example is how people responsible for downing Iran Air Flight 655 not only never got punished, but were actually decorated. Even Russia handles this kind of situations better.

Re: Guantánamo survivor on the war on terror’s failure

#15

Post by trasz »

La1n wrote: post #12
trasz wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very few countries are active war mongers, so it might actually be possible to assemble a bloc to try making US accountable. It probably wouldn’t be possible to go after prime perpetrators, but it might be possible to at least start extracting low key figures and put them on trial in a way that US cannot interfere with.

>and put them on trial in a way that US cannot interfere with. I think that would be near impossible when looking at US laws like the following: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Service-Members%27_Pr...

How would this matter if they were tried by counties which are not US allies?

Re: Guantánamo survivor on the war on terror’s failure

#16

Post by BiteCode_dev »

docdeek wrote: post #7
blunte wrote: post #2

Key figures in US military and US leadership need to be held accountable. Same as with CEOs, if you only punish the organization and not specifically the leaders, there is no disincentive to doing it again. Clearly the US is exempt from the war crimes laws, and that needs to change. But it would require leaders of other major powers/countries to push for this. But… this will never happen because almost no leader want…

> Clearly the US is exempt from the war crimes laws, and that needs to change. The US is not exempt from laws relating to war crimes. While it is not a member of the ICC, it is bound to the laws of war as is any other state.

The US went to war against the entire UN vote and suffered no consequence whatsoever, who is going to hold them responsible for breaking the rules of engagement ?

Re: Guantánamo survivor on the war on terror’s failure

#17

Post by La1n »

mrtksn wrote: post #11

This implies the US population being held responsible because the US is a democratic nation. The idea is, every 4 years the highest position of governance is put on a trial and the population votes if they approve or disprove the way things are done and reconsider alternatives. Besides the 4 year period for the evaluation of the highest ranking officers, there is an ample opportunity for direct intervention through o…

>Whatever happens is up to the US internal politics and the culture of the US nation.

If only the US would live by that when looking at other countries. Sanctions, embargos, trade-restrictions, threats are used against other countries by the US, why should they be treated any different themselves?

Re: Guantánamo survivor on the war on terror’s failure

#18

Post by La1n »

trasz wrote: post #15
La1n wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>and put them on trial in a way that US cannot interfere with. I think that would be near impossible when looking at US laws like the following: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Service-Members%27_Pr...

How would this matter if they were tried by counties which are not US allies?

Most countries, even non-allies would not want to be invaded by the US.

Re: Guantánamo survivor on the war on terror’s failure

#20

Post by thejackgoode »

beckman466 wrote: post #3

Abby Martin from Empire Files made a beautiful video about the war in Afghanistan: https://youtube.com/watch?v=C3LFbOSPfrE

Google wants me to submit my passport (“age check”) to watch this video (despite being registered there since 2008). Any other links to it?
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