Many prominent scholars, thinkers and politicians see the American led war on terror, that provided it with justifications to further strengthen its imperial aims, as a crude war of revenge. Over the past seventeen years, countless reports and investigations have accused American forces for violating the rights of prisoners as well as civilians. Here lies the irony; the biggest proponent of human rights invading Afghanistan to secure rights for women of Afghanistan, in reality, has abused the rights of millions of people in Afghanistan. The United States (US) wants to carry on with its operations with impunity. Moving a step further, the White House National Security Advisor John Bolton calling the ICC “outright dangerous” and threatening the court by saying that “we will not sit quietly” goes well beyond the “American exceptionalism” that is dear to many a people in the US and is readily invoked to intervene other nations militarily.

Mr John Bolton is erred in assuming that not allowing the judges to land on American soil will exonerate the war criminals. The world knows the war crimes committed by the US military personnel against the detainees especially in Afghanistan. The archives of print and electronic media have all the documents that have recorded violations in the hands of American troops. Calling the court illegitimate and attempting to discredit the court by labelling it “unaccountable” and “outright dangerous” shows America’s contempt for the international law and all the governing bodies.

The crude remarks of the National Security Advisor should not surprise anyone. American hawks always rely on undermining of international organisations to get away with their crimes against humanity. We have seen many a time how the global powers in general and the US, in particular, use the international organisations for the perpetuation of their interests around the globe. The so-called “Operation Enduring Freedom” has brought all devastations but the freedom to the people of Afghanistan. The rampant abuses of human rights metamorphosed the “War on Terror” into “The War of Terror” to quote John Pilger.

Not cooperating with the ICC does not absolve the US from the grave breaches of Geneva conventions as the plethora of irrefutable evidence suggest US forces’ involvement in the killing or torture of persons both civilians and prisoners of war, attacking hospitals and civilians abodes. Mr John’s words are nothing but bullying and a complete disregard for both international human rights as well as international humanitarian law. The statement snatches away the right from the US to dictate other countries how to run their affairs.