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Paragraph 499 defines a war crime. Paragraph 500 refers to a conspiracy, attempts to commit it and complicity with respect to international crimes.
Paragraph 509 denies the defense of superior orders in the commission of a crime, and paragraph 510 denies the defense of an “act of state” absolving them.
Two points are key:
These provisions apply to all US military and civilian personnel, including top commanders, the Secretary of Defense, his subordinates, and the President and Vice President of the United States.
Moreover, under the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause (Article VI, paragraph 2), all international laws and treaties are the “supreme Law of the Land.”
Nonetheless, Iraq commanders gave orders to kill all military age males. Stjepan Mestovic documented Col. Michale Steele’s involvement in his book titled, “The ‘Good Soldier’ On Trial: A Sociological Study of Misconduct by the US Military Pertaining to Operation Iron Triangle, Iraq.”
He also exposed how low-ranking troops are sacrificed to absolve higher-ups. In addition, ROE provisions and rule of law principles are one thing, enforcement another.
Notably, “PMCs are in a unique position to exploit the vulnerabilities of women because (they operate) in post-conflict environments.” Moreover, studies show that “histories of sexual violence are key indicators of future victimization.”
For example, Bosnian and Kosovo women suffered during war. PMCs then treated them as exploitable sex objects. Yet they’re immune from suits unless crimes occurred in war zones or on US military or government installations.
In 2006, Defense Federal Acquisition Regulations implemented the 2000 Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA). It requires PMCs develop policies ensuring against sexual abuse and human trafficking.
In 2002, zero tolerance became DOD policy for military personnel. Amending TVPA followed to include PMCs. However, laws produced no accountability. PMCs became self-enforcing.
DynCorp abuses showed they don’t comply with mandates. Only whistleblowers were fired. The company’s $2 billion in DOD contracts stayed in force.
Numerous UN reports on Blue Helmet abuses show “zero compliance with zero tolerance.” It’s also true for PMCs nearly always and military personnel nearly as often.
Moreover, at issue is applying US laws abroad. Although limited ways allow it, follow through rarely happens.
Notably, the Special Maritime and Territorial Jurisdiction Act (SMTJA) applies for crimes committed on certain type military and government facilities abroad, including sexual ones by or against US nationals. However, loopholes let PMCs escape accountability. In addition, many of their employees aren’t US citizens or residents.
One time only SMTJA successfully prosecuted a CIA contractor for beating an Afghan detainee to death.
The 2000 Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (MEJA) authorizes domestic prosecutions of DOD contractors under US criminal law. It applies to overseas crimes considered a felony in America. Again, using it is rare. In fact, only one successful prosecution resulted. It involved a contractor guilty of child pornography possession in 2007, hardly a capital or violent crime offense.
America’s Status of Forces Agreements (SOFAs) are key. The DOD’s Defense Technical Information Center calls them “an agreement that defines the legal position of a visiting military force in the territory of a friendly state.”
In his book titled, “Sorrows of Empire,” Chalmers Johnson called America’s “foreign military enclaves (micro-colonies) in that they are completely beyond the jurisdiction of the occupied nation.”
As a result, military personnel and PMCs are protected. Moreover, if crimes are too egregious to ignore, companies or Pentagon officials can repatriate perpetrators to escape accountability.
Universally applicable human rights laws are also ignored, including the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against women (CEDAW). Called an international women’s bill of rights, it took effect in September 1981. However, America never signed it.
It prohibits gender-based violence, including rape called a form of torture and crime against humanity. Even DOD admits that rape is considered “perhaps the most traumatic of violent of crimes on victims (excluding murder).”
However, America “sought to ensure PMC immunity from prosecution under international law, rather than imposing obligations on them.” Laws and rules are one thing, enforcement another. Washington wants its troops and contractors operating with impunity.
Truth and bad journalism are the first casualties of war. So is accountability when America wages them.
A Final Comment
The University of Illinois Law Review said PMCs are “a convenient way for the US government to evade its legal obligations, including the responsibility to protect the human rights of civilians in war and peace, by allowing private individuals, rather than official state actors, to perform services on behalf of the US military.”
As a result, murder, sexual abuse, human trafficking, and other crimes go unpunished. Women especially are affected. Political Washington, Pentagon commanders, and intelligence operatives ignore rule of law principles. Only wealth, power, and full spectrum dominance matter.
Given their might, viciousness and influence, who’ll challenge them? Only mass public outrage has a chance.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net
Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.