...Writing at the Guardian on Friday, Katherine Gallagher, a senior staff attorney with the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, argues that a "criminal investigation of U.S. torture—and other serious crimes in Afghanistan—is long overdue."
"To date," she continues, "no high-level U.S. official from the civilian leadership, military, CIA, or private contractor has been prosecuted for war crimes and crimes against humanity. An ICC investigation could finally change that—bringing an end to the impunity U.S. officials have enjoyed and, critically, some measure of redress to victims of the U.S. torture program."
"The ICC is deemed a court of last resort, the place to go when other courts in other countries have proved unable or unwilling to prosecute," Gallagher adds. "The responsibility of U.S. parties for crimes related to the war in Afghanistan, for which impunity has reigned for nearly 15 years, is exactly the sort of case the ICC was designed to take on."