ICC Wants to Arrest Putin for War Crimes, Why Not Bush?

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The International Criminal Court in The Hague has ordered the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin on suspicion of war crimes in Ukraine. But the ICC did not take action against former US president George W Bush over the illegal invasion of Iraq. Photo/Kremlin.ru

WASHINGTON – The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague on Friday issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin on suspicion of war crimes in Ukraine. The letter also targets the Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Office of the President of Russia, Maria Lvova-Belova.

The socialist camp in America criticized the ICC’s move by questioning why it did not do the same to American leaders, including George W Bush, for alleged war crimes in various countries that were invaded.

Joseph Kishore, national secretary of the Socialist Equality Party in the United States, wrote his long criticism of the ICC’s move on the World Socialist Web Site (WSWS) on Saturday (18/3/2023).

Kishore stressed that the status of Russia, the US, and also Ukraine is the same, that is, they are not members of the Rome Statute which forms the ICC.

He considered the ICC’s move against Putin to be political. “It comes as US and NATO powers orchestrate the escalation of a full-scale war against Russia over Ukraine, and amid increasingly public statements from government officials [AS] that the aim of the war is regime change in Moscow,” Kishore wrote.

The specific charges brought against Putin and Lvova-Belova are contained in Article 8 of the Rome Statute, adopted in 1998, which includes gross violations of the Geneva Conventions and other serious violations of international law.

The arrest warrant specifically charges Putin and Lvova-Belova with suspected war crimes. “In the form of illegal deportation of residents (children) and illegal transfer of residents (children) from the occupied territories (in) Ukraine to the Russian Federation,” the ICC said in a statement issuing the warrant.

The warrant was approved by a judge at the ICC and announced by Karim AA Khan, a British solicitor and chief prosecutor of the ICC. “This follows months of propaganda, spearheaded by the Biden administration, alleging crimes against humanity and genocide on the part of the Russian government,” Kishore continued.