• Random Dent
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      1 year ago

      Fun fact! In 2002 the US passed a law allowing themselves to invade the Hague in case any high-ranking US officials ended up on trial there.

      Which I’m sure they passed in the year between 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq just by coincidence, and they weren’t expecting any shady shit to go down at all.

        • Random Dent
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          1 year ago

          But still, quite convenient timing to pass a “Guys we’re SUPER SERIOUS about not being on the hook for war crimes” bill.

      • qyron@sopuli.xyz
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        1 year ago

        How would that work? Wouldn’t that be an act of war unprovoked aggression per the UN charter?

        • thantik@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          No no, don’t you know that we don’t do “war” any more? We do “operations” now. War is totally different. Then we have to obey Geneva conventions and all sorts of other hairy stuff. Our politicians have decided as long as we don’t call it “war” then we’re fine.

        • Arbiter@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Yeah, it would be.

          It’s geopolitical dick wagging, not a law that was actually needed or does anything.

      • Son_of_dad@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        This is why I maintain that Trump will never go to prison… The u.s government itself would never allow it. They’ll likely help him stay out on appeals till he dies, that’s gonna be the worst punishment he’ll get. I think the government would have him killed and made it to look like an accident before they ever allow him to set foot in prison.

        • HobbitFoot @thelemmy.club
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          1 year ago

          The US government will allow Trump to go to an American jail. This is like ruling over like. The US government would never allow Trump to go a foreign jail, no matter how much he deserved it.

          • Son_of_dad@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            I think there are enough people in power who will use the “one of our presidents in jail will hurt our country” excuse, or they’ll fear reprisal from the maga cult, that they’ll let him walk. I hope I’m wrong, but the u.s pulls this shit all the time.

    • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Iraq was different. It was mostly a US and British invasion, under false pretences

      Lil Bush didn’t even really know…

      He was just a puppet, and Cheney was part of his dad’s “old guard”. Lil Bush knew the game, so Cheney set it up so every intel agency reported to Dick Cheney, and Dick Cheney decided if that info went anywhere else, including Lil Bush.

      Cheney wanted the war, so he only passed on info that would cause the war, and it’s entirely likely he was the only member of the American government who could have seen 9/11 coming. The reason no one else could, was everything has to go thru Cheney, and he saw everything.

      I’m not saying Lil Bush is innocent, I’m saying he was a useful idiot that knew he was just a puppet and went along with

      But it pisses me off everyone acts like the puppet fall guy is who we should be upset with, not the people who were actually doing stuff and still work with the American Republican political party.

        • grte@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          That’s correct. It wasn’t their first attempt, either. Instead Bush opted for the 20 years of occupation for whatever reason.

      • SCB@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        The United States today rejected yet another offer by Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban to turn over Osama bin Laden for trial in a third country if the U.S. presents evidence against bin Laden and stops air attacks.

        It’s insane to suggest the US would ever agree to that.

        I believe it would have been the correct move, but the US as a nation would straight up never agree to that. The citizenry would have lost their fucking minds.

    • Neuromancer@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Officially that was the reason. The violation of the ceasefire. Iraq did not abide by the terms of the ceasefire.

      In hindsight, we shouldn’t have invaded. I supported the invasion at the time because of the violations of the ceasefire. I didn’t completely buy the wmd argument.

      Looking back, Iraq distracted us from Afghanistan.

    • malloc@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Both countries also do not recognize the authority of International Court. High ranking officials definitely should have been hauled off to jail for authorizing, developing, and employing “enhanced interrogation” (aka torture) techniques

    • Gigan@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Now, why wasn’t Bush charged with any crimes? For the same reason nothing will happen to Putin in Russia.

      Trump is being charged with crimes

      • JBar2@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Trump is being charged by the US and state governments with violation of US and state laws

        That’s a far different scenario than an international court attempting to charge and arrest a US president (current or former

        • Gigan@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Bush lied to congress and the American people. I don’t believe there were no crimes committed by doing that.

          • meco03211@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            But did Bush knowingly lie to a degree provable in court?

            He would have had to have known it was a lie and for that to be proven in court. With trump, his crimes were so egregious there were devout party line adherents backing out and explicitly stating just how illegal what they were doing is. Trump had been told multiple times, in multiple ways that what he was doing was illegal and he went for it anyways.

            • Bumblefumble@lemm.ee
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              1 year ago

              Another point to add. It is not illegal for anyone to lie, so unless he was testifying under oath, Bush could lie as much as he wanted without legal repercussions.

              • kbotc@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                Not quite. The constitution has a cutout for official duties of the office. The president must faithfully carry out the duties of the office. So knowingly lying can fail that test.

                If you want someone to blame for the US invasion of Iraq, blame Italy, their Intelligence apparatus, and Nicolò Pollari in particular. He submitted the “Iraq is buying Yellowcake” to the CIA twice, who figured out it was a forgery before setting a private meeting with the vice president who did not know the CIA had already ruled it out.

                • Bumblefumble@lemm.ee
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                  1 year ago

                  It’s not illegal to not do that. The legal framework to deal with that is impeachment and trial by Congress.

                  • kbotc@lemmy.world
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                    1 year ago

                    Not quite. Trump is currently being charged in federal court for his part in lying to overturn the election. They used “knowingly false” 32 times in the indictment for a reason. His defense is not that the president is allowed to lie, but rather that he truthfully believed he was telling the truth, so I’m not sure where you assertion is coming from: It is illegal to lie in furtherance of breaking the law, even for the POTUS.

          • Archpawn@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            It’s not illegal to lie to the American people. And it’s practically a requirement for office.

        • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Well he’s been at it since the 80s and so far it’s been the only thing he’s ever been mostly right about for an extended period…