Open Thread: ICC and War Crimes Edition

No wonder the Bush Administration has worked so hard to distance itself from the Geneva Conventions and Republicans in general appear to loathe the very thought of the United States ever joining the International Criminal Court (ICC):

_____

The ICC "shall apply equally to all persons without any distinction based on official capacity. In particular, official capacity as a head of state... shall in no case exempt a person from criminal responsibility," it says.

        -- Article 27 of the Rome Treaty
          per the AFP website.

_____

It's pretty much a common consensus world-wide -- and among any reality-based people within the U.S. -- that the United States has committed war crimes in pursuit of the GWoT and particularly in Iraq.

"Says who?"

Several findings definitely lead that way:

• Addington, Gonzales Witnessed Gitmo Interrogations In 2002; Approved Of ‘Whatever Needs To Be Done’
  
• Taguba: Bush administration tortured detainees, 'committed war crimes'
  
• Cheney 'may be guilty of war crime'
  
• US Doctors Confirm Bush Guilty of War Crimes (YouTube Video)
  
• Human Rights Day 2004: US Guilty of War Crimes in Iraq
  

Is any judgement or any accountability forthcoming?

Short answer -- "No."

_____

For as long as the United States remains the world's only superpower, and as long as we refuse to submit to the authority of international tribunals, nobody else can compel our government to investigate these incidents, punish wrongdoers, or stop employing strategies that cause high numbers of civilian casualties. Those responsibilities fall to us as Americans, for the sake of our own honor and self-respect.

_____

We, through our Congress, haven't exactly done a bang-up job of upholding our own constitutionally-guaranteed rights and freedoms -- we certainly aren't making much headway in ending an illegal war or investigating the multiple instances of abuse, negligence, criminal graft and corruption, murder and war profiteering that is constantly being reported.

Isn't it time for the citizens to stand up and demand immediate action and a return to the rule of law? Why must we wait until another Administration comes in, when the criminals are before us right now -- in office, in the Executive Branch and the DoJ, and in both houses of the Congress?

Why should we believe that, even if we elect and seat an Administration based on change from the Bush and McCain brand of political and diplomatic failure gamesmanship, there will be any effort -- or support for -- bringing about a full accounting of the criminal abuse that has prevailed the past eight long years?

Post answers in the comments; this is an Open Thread.