It’s no secret that U.S. President Joe Biden’s recognition of the 1915 events in Turkey as an “Armenian genocide” was politically motivated. Yet, perhaps one of the strangest aspects of his announcement was Biden's attempt to slander our country under a moral guise. The U.S., which has amassed its wealth by massacring Native Americans, forcibly taking over their lands, and enslaving Africans and exploiting them for centuries, cannot preach to any country about morality.
The recent history of the U.S. is rife with them supporting military coups, aiding and abetting anti-popular monarchic and military regimes, occupying countries, carrying out political assassinations, and signing off on "endless wars" that have resulted in the deaths of millions of people.
Meanwhile, the U.S. is also shielding Israel so that it will go unpunished for its crimes against the Palestinians. Isn't the U.S. constantly vetoing the resolutions against Israel in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC)?
Israel pays no heed to international law with the U.S.’s veto-wielding support at the UN and with the military and economic support it receives. The U.S., which tries everything in its power to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, turns a blind eye to the ones possessed by Israel. The U.S. is the only reason why Israel, which acts with impunity, behaves recklessly.
It is really baffling that the U.S., which embraces dictators who enter office, tries to shield them from facing trial for the crimes committed against their people, and employs all sorts of methods to overthrow elected governments that stand up to it, would then condescendingly preach to other countries about morality.
The U.S. invaded Iraq based on a lie. Millions of people lost their lives there as a result. These false pretenses were later revealed, and what happened? Has the U.S. been held accountable for its crimes in Iraq?
Washington, which invaded Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban, has been there for 20 years. Have Afghan civilians who lost their lives in U.S. attacks received any justice? The U.S. does not want the International Criminal Court in The Hague to investigate war crimes in Afghanistan and Palestine. It opposes any probe into its soldiers serving in Afghanistan, which it has been occupying since 2001.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) was officially established and began operating in July 2002. Meanwhile, the U.S. had already occupied Afghanistan.
Washington predicted that this court would eventually deal with war crimes in Afghanistan. That same year, the U.S. Congress passed laws to protect American soldiers and other officials from the court. It is obvious that this regulation, known as the American Service Members' Protection Act, is a precaution against the ICC.
The U.S. did not stop there and launched a campaign to prevent many countries from aiding any investigation launched by the ICC. John Bolton, a prominent Neocon, who served as Trump's National Security Advisor, played an important role in the Bush-era campaign against the ICC.
Bolton was then the U.S.’s Ambassador to the UN and he would go on to serve as National Security Advisor under Trump. Addressing members of the Federalist Society, which represents Christian legislators, in 2018, Bolton said the following in his speech:
“At President Bush’s direction, we next launched a global diplomatic campaign to protect Americans from being delivered into the ICC’s hands. We negotiated about 100 binding, bilateral agreements to prevent other countries from delivering U.S. personnel to the ICC. It remains one of my proudest achievements.”
The Trump administration's response to the International Criminal Court's attempt to investigate war crimes committed in Afghanistan was to impose sanctions on court members. The U.S. also opposes any ICC investigation into Israel's war crimes in the West Bank and Gaza. Not recognizing the ICC's authority to investigate and prosecute the allegations against the U.S. and Israel is a matter of bipartisan agreement in Washington. The regulation introduced in 2002 to prevent American soldiers from being prosecuted in an international court was passed with the support of both the Democrats and Republicans at the American Congress. Back then, Biden was chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee. This further tells us that when U.S. President Biden made his Armenia announcement, he had zero recollection of those days.
