Letter: Whether or not something is a war crime depends on who the International Criminal Court want to prosecute

A letter from Walter Millar:
By Letters
Published 22nd Mar 2023, 05:04 BST
A man stands outside a burning house after shelling in the town of Chasiv Yar, near Bakhmut, yesterday (March 21, 2023), amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In any war there will always be allegations of war crimes from either of the protagonists. The ICC could have found cases of war crimes inflicted against Protestants in Northern Ireland but do we think they would have prosecuted the IRA? (Photo by Aris Messinis / AFP)A man stands outside a burning house after shelling in the town of Chasiv Yar, near Bakhmut, yesterday (March 21, 2023), amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In any war there will always be allegations of war crimes from either of the protagonists. The ICC could have found cases of war crimes inflicted against Protestants in Northern Ireland but do we think they would have prosecuted the IRA? (Photo by Aris Messinis / AFP)
A man stands outside a burning house after shelling in the town of Chasiv Yar, near Bakhmut, yesterday (March 21, 2023), amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In any war there will always be allegations of war crimes from either of the protagonists. The ICC could have found cases of war crimes inflicted against Protestants in Northern Ireland but do we think they would have prosecuted the IRA? (Photo by Aris Messinis / AFP)

The International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague have made the decision to prosecute President Vladimir Putin of Russia for alleged war crimes in Ukraine. While in any war there will always be allegations of war crimes from either of the protagonists I would question the decision as to what constitutes a war crime and it depends on who the ICC wish to prosecute.

In 1980 when Russian invaded Afghanistan they were the aggressors and the forces who became the Taliban (the mujahideen) were the freedom fighters in receipt of military equipment and assistance from the United States CIA at that time. Russia was the enemy and the forerunners of the Taliban were the Afghanistan defenders. Eventually Russia as all other invaders had done withdrew from Afghanistan.

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Fast forward to after the attack on the Twin Towers on 9/11 2001 when the United States and the UK with other countries invaded Afghanistan the Taliban were not the freedom fighters but terrorists who needed to be defeated in the war against terror. Just like Russian forces, the US forces had to leave in 2021 with the Taliban running Afghanistan . At no stage did the ICC claim of any war crimes being committed during the illegal invasion of Iraq by the US and UK governments based on the mistruths of President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. There was no suggestion of war crimes despite the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians.

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Much closer to home the ICC could have found hundreds of cases of war crimes inflicted against the Protestant community in Northern Ireland by the IRA but do we think they would really prosecute those in the leadership of the IRA? No, there is a political agenda and a peace process to protect.

In the case of Putin it has not about war crimes but rather a political scheme, by those who care little about the loss of Ukrainian or Russian lives.

Walter Millar, Cookstown

Related topics:Vladimir PutinRussiaAfghanistanUnited StatesTalibanUkraine