War Crimes
As millions march in Tehran, US steps up military build-up against Iran
By Patrick Martin, 7 January 2020
As millions in Iran mourn the murder of General Qassem Suleimani, President Trump is assembling the forces for much greater crimes.
The US propaganda machine justifies the assassination of Qassem Suleimani
By Andre Damon and David North, 7 January 2020
To present with any degree of honesty the life of Major General Qassem Suleimani would require acknowledging the criminal role the United States has played in subverting the interests of the people of Iran and the entire Middle East for upwards of 70 years.
US assassination of Suleimani staggers Turkish government
By Ulas Atesci, 7 January 2020
The Turkish government took 10 hours to react to this illegal act of war carried out by its decades-long NATO ally.
International Criminal Court to investigate Israeli war crimes
By Jean Shaoul, 4 January 2020
Human rights groups have told the UN Human Rights Council, which is investigating Israel’s use of lethal fire against protestors, that no evidence exists of a single protester killed in Gaza border protests being armed.
Edward Gallagher, Donald Trump and America’s criminal wars
By Patrick Martin, 30 December 2019
A new report documents the gruesome record of the Navy Seal commander Trump has praised and pardoned.
Australia: Lauded military veteran subject of second police investigation into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan
By James Cogan, 21 December 2019
The special forces were used for some of the most brutal aspects of the war, particularly hunting down and capturing or killing alleged Taliban resistance fighters.
The “Afghanistan papers”: The criminality and disaster of a war based upon lies
By Bill Van Auken, 10 December 2019
The documents published by the Washington Post constitute a damning indictment of both major parties as well as the media for lying to the American people for two decades.
Seeking to cultivate fascistic base, Trump pardons two war criminals and promotes a third
By Evan Blake, 16 November 2019
Trump’s unprecedented pardoning of war criminals highlights the authoritarian character of his administration.
In Berlin Wall speech, Pompeo advances crusade against Russia and China
By Bill Van Auken, 11 November 2019
In a hypocritical address invoking a worldwide crusade for “freedom,” Pompeo escalated US threats of global war.
UN rapporteur Nils Melzer warns: Julian Assange may die in a British prison
By Oscar Grenfell, 4 November 2019
Melzer’s statements confirm that the British government, acting on behalf of the US administration of President Donald Trump, is seeking nothing less than Assange’s psychological and physical destruction.
Australian troops accused of war crimes in Afghanistan
By Oscar Grenfell, 25 September 2019
Anonymous soldiers interviewed by “60 Minutes” alleged that Ben Roberts-Smith, who is widely presented as a “war hero,” kicked a handcuffed Afghan civilian off a cliff in 2012.
Government minister, journalists challenged on Australian TV over persecution of Assange
By Oscar Grenfell, 24 September 2019
A WikiLeaks supporter denounced the “media blackout about Julian Assange” and declared that journalists could no longer deny that he was being held as a “political prisoner.”
Trump breaks off talks on end to US war in Afghanistan
By Bill Van Auken, 9 September 2019
The US president announced that he had called off plans for a secret Camp David meeting with the Taliban and the Afghan president to conclude a peace deal.
Australian government boosts Special Forces despite war crimes charges
By Mike Head, 16 August 2019
The move is part of the preparation for war, as well as for the suppression of domestic dissent.
War threats mount as Iran exceeds limit on enriched uranium stockpile
By Bill Van Auken, 2 July 2019
Israel carried out one of its most intense raids in Syria Monday amid speculation that Tel Aviv is preparing to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities.
EU powers build joint “Future Combat Air System”
European Union rearms for World War III
By Johannes Stern, 21 June 2019
At the Le Bourget air show the defence ministers of Germany, France and Spain signed major agreements to develop a joint European air combat system.
Germany: Protest vigil in Dusseldorf demands release of Julian Assange
By our reporters, 17 June 2019
“Assange’s surrender to the US would mean that war crimes, spying on the population, or government intrigues and conspiracies would no longer be reported.”
Trump issues full pardon to former lieutenant who executed prisoner in Iraq
By Jessica Goldstein, 9 May 2019
The act of clemency for a war criminal was a calculated gesture to ultra-right and fascistic elements inside and outside the US military.
New study documents over 1,600 killed in US siege of Raqqa, Syria
By Bill Van Auken, 26 April 2019
The killings in Raqqa, like those in Mosul, Iraq, constituted massive war crimes committed in the so-called war against ISIS.
Macron moves to prosecute journalists who revealed French arms sales in Yemen war
By Will Morrow, 26 April 2019
French security services have summoned Disclose journalists for questioning over their April 15 report documenting French arms supplies to Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen.
Guatemala and El Salvador discuss amnesty for war criminals
By Andrea Lobo, 9 April 2019
The ruling class is calling for forgiving and forgetting the mass murder, torture and other crimes carried out by US-backed dictatorships.
Unsealed documents shed light on state conspiracy against Chelsea Manning
By Kevin Reed, 22 March 2019
The unsealed documents shine a light on the desperate measures to which the US government has resorted in pursuing a legal pretext to prosecute Julian Assange.
Trump administration threatens sanctions against International Criminal Court
By Patrick Martin, 11 September 2018
National Security Advisor John Bolton threatened jurists and prosecutors of the ICC with financial and legal sanctions, including even arrest and imprisonment, if they sought to bring charges against Americans.
Mistrial in case of formerly convicted Blackwater mercenary
By Jacob Crosse, 8 September 2018
Key testimony of the Nisour Square Massacre was called into question due to a brain injury sustained by an eyewitness.
The siege of Hodeidah, Washington’s war crime in Yemen
By Bill Van Auken, 15 June 2018
The near genocidal war against the impoverished people of Yemen represents one of the greatest war crimes since the end of World War II.
Trump awards Medal of Honor to Navy SEAL accused of war crimes in Afghanistan
By Shelley Connor, 26 May 2018
On Thursday, President Trump bestowed the Medal of Honor on former Navy SEAL Britt Slabinski, who has admitted to ordering the killing of unarmed Afghan men.
Whistleblower and former political prisoner Chelsea Manning speaks to WSWS
By Norisa Diaz, 2 May 2018
The World Socialist Web Site spoke to Chelsea Manning, known around the world for her courageous leaks of documents exposing US government war crimes and her subsequent arrest.
US involvement in enslavement and rape of Afghan children
By Kayla Costa, 29 January 2018
Between 2010 and 2016 alone, there were nearly 6,000 accusations of child sexual abuse reported by American military personnel, with no actions taken in response.
UN says 27 dying each day in US-led siege of Raqqa
By Bill Van Auken, 1 September 2017
The mass killing in the Syrian city of Raqqa is part of an arc of US slaughter, stretching from the Horn of Africa through the Middle East and into South Asia.
The “liberation” of Mosul: Washington’s latest war crime in the Middle East
By Bill Van Auken, 12 July 2017
The crimes carried out against the people of Mosul are on a Hitlerian scale, with tens of thousands killed or wounded and close to one million people driven from their homes.
US forces accused of firing white phosphorus into Mosul and Raqqa
By James Cogan, 12 June 2017
An estimated 200,000 civilians are trapped in the Islamic State-held areas of both cities.
US-backed Iraqi forces carry out “annihilation tactics” in Mosul
By James Cogan, 30 May 2017
Secretary of Defense Mattis implied that the “tactics” included the extra-judicial execution of wounded or captured alleged ISIS militants, which would constitute a war crime.
Washington invokes the language of war against Russia
By Joseph Kishore, 14 January 2017
Over the past several weeks, top Democratic and Republican officials have denounced Russian President Vladimir Putin as a “war criminal,” following a script used before every previous act of military aggression.
Guantánamo Diary author released after 14 years in illegal detention
By Zaida Green, 19 October 2016
Mohamedou Ould Slahi, now 45, has never been charged with a crime.
Australian parliamentarian calls for Iraqi war crimes trial
By James Cogan, 9 July 2016
Andrew Wilkie declared that he would like to see an international court to hear the “pretty compelling case” against George Bush, Tony Blair and John Howard for war crimes.
UK: Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn refuses to call Tony Blair a war criminal
By Chris Marsden, 8 July 2016
Corbyn’s silence is his response to the efforts by 80 percent of Labour MPs, led by the Blairite wing of the party, to remove him as party leader.
The Chilcot verdict on Iraq: A war crime by British and US imperialism
By Julie Hyland, 7 July 2016
The Chilcot report provides conclusive proof that those responsible for the war have the blood of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, on their hands.
Fallujah: A symbol of US war crimes
By James Cogan, 8 June 2016
The humanitarian disaster that is unfolding in Fallujah is the product of the US-led invasion in 2003 and Washington’s deliberate stoking of sectarian conflict in the face of determined Iraqi resistance.
Obama, Pentagon outline latest plan to close Guantanamo, move prisoners to US
By E.P. Bannon, 24 February 2016
The maneuver is a cynical ploy aimed at assuaging opposition to the horrific crimes committed in the name of the "war on terror," which have continued unabated under Obama.
UK and Swedish governments continue their persecution of Julian Assange
By Robert Stevens, 6 February 2016
London and Stockholm have rejected the UN’s verdict that Assange has been arbitrarily detained.
Pentagon report whitewashes bombing of Doctors Without Borders hospital
By Thomas Gaist, 26 November 2015
While the actual report remains secret, the US military offered a summary of its internal findings on the destruction of a hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan by US forces last month.
US-backed Saudi war coalition shows “complete disregard” for civilian lives, MSF says
Saudi strikes destroy Doctors Without Borders hospital in Yemen
By Thomas Gaist, 29 October 2015
The US-backed Saudi war coalition has laid waste to civilian infrastructure across Yemen since launching “Operation Decisive Storm” in March
NSSP leader backs US cover-up of Sri Lankan war crimes
By K. Ratnayake, 29 October 2015
At every point, the NSSP has followed in the footsteps of US imperialism, justifying Washington’s actions and giving credence to its bogus “human rights” posturing.
New evidence that US Army deliberately targeted hospital in Kunduz
By Joseph Kishore, 27 October 2015
Aided by the media, the US military and the Obama administration are continuing their efforts to cover up and whitewash a war crime.
The Afghan hospital bombing: An imperialist war crime
By Joseph Kishore, 17 October 2015
In the wake of the October 3 massacre at the Doctors Without Borders hospital, details have emerged exposing a war crime for which the entire political establishment is responsible.
Hospital bombing in Afghanistan was premeditated, AP reports
By Evan Blake, 16 October 2015
US special operations analysts had been gathering intelligence on the Doctors Without Borders hospital days before it was destroyed, a flagrant war crime.
Amnesty report: US-backed Kurdish militias forcibly displaced thousands in northern Syria
By Thomas Gaist, 15 October 2015
American-backed Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) committed war crimes, including forced displacement and collective punishment, against more than a dozen villages in northern Syria, a new Amnesty International report shows
Washington’s war crime in Afghanistan
By Bill Van Auken, 6 October 2015
Fourteen years after the US invaded Afghanistan on the pretext of destroying Al Qaeda, the US military continues slaughtering Afghans to keep a corrupt puppet regime in power.
Yemen: A war crime made in America
By Niles Williamson, 21 September 2015
The six-month reign of death and destruction spearheaded by Saudi Arabia in Yemen would not be possible without the backing of American imperialism, which is seeking to assert its hegemony over the entire Middle East.
Poll finds mass opposition in Europe to war drive vs. Russia over Ukraine
By Alex Lantier, 11 June 2015
The US and NATO are pressing a confrontation with Russia that threatens to provoke a war in the face of broad opposition within the European population.
Obama gave CIA free rein for drone assassinations in Pakistan
By Bill Van Auken, 28 April 2015
Rules supposedly imposed elsewhere to reduce the killing and maiming of civilians were secretly waived for CIA operations in Pakistan.
UK joins US, Poland in sending military trainers to Ukraine
By Jean Shaoul, 26 February 2015
London is joining the US and Polish governments in arming the Kiev regime, risking outright war with Russia.
US presses for military action against Russia
By Joseph Kishore, 9 February 2015
The United States is ratcheting up pressure for military escalation in Ukraine, and thus risking a war with Russia.
Munich Security Conference: Threats and provocations against Russia over Ukraine
By Johannes Stern, 9 February 2015
The 51st Munich Security Conference was dominated by the escalation of war threats against Russia by the imperialist powers.
US official admits to UK role in rendition to Diego Garcia
By Jean Shaoul, 9 February 2015
Britain colluded in the use of the British overseas territory of Diego Garcia by the US for its criminal activities.
Ukraine premier’s pro-Nazi version of World War II: USSR invaded Ukraine, Germany
By Lena Sokoll, 19 January 2015
On Germany’s public television channel ARD, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said the USSR was the aggressor against Ukraine and Germany in World War II.
US drone strike against Somalia
By Bill Van Auken, 31 December 2014
The attempted assassination of a Somali Islamist militia leader is part of a global escalation of the Obama administration’s illegal drone killing program.
Amnesty International documents war crimes by pro-Kiev militia
By Julie Hyland, 11 September 2014
A report from Amnesty International confirms the Ukrainian government is using extreme-right militias to suppress political opposition.
UK referred to International Criminal Court for war crimes in Iraq
By Jean Shaoul, 3 June 2014
This is the first time the International Criminal Court in The Hague has opened an enquiry into a Western state.
Spanish government abolishes prosecutions under universal jurisdiction laws
By Alejandro López, 13 March 2014
As the result of a new Spanish law, dozens of investigations will be dropped into crimes against humanity, war crimes, genocide and torture.
Iraqi military bombs Fallujah ahead of ground assault
By Will Morrow, 4 February 2014
The government has delivered an ultimatum to anyone still inside the city to leave or be treated as a supporter of Al Qaeda-linked militias.
Ex-UK minister of defence and former army chief of staff named in Iraq war crimes case
By Jean Shaoul, 21 January 2014
Investigators have charged that the abuse of Iraqis was systematic.
Sharon’s funeral pays homage to war criminal
By Mike Head, 14 January 2014
The whitewashing of Sharon’s record is bound up with the fact that the criminal methods he employed have been openly adopted by Washington and its allies.
Report finds US-backed Syrian opposition responsible for sectarian atrocity
By Alex Lantier, 12 October 2013
In an offensive near Lattakia in early August, US-backed Syrian opposition forces slaughtered hundreds of civilians in a sectarian-based massacre.
Obama offers tortured defense of targeted killings
By Joseph Kishore, 24 May 2013
Obama defended drone killings, while essentially acknowledging their illegality and the illegality of much of what the US government has done over the past decade.
Video shows US-backed opposition fighter cannibalizing Syrian soldier
By Alex Lantier, 16 May 2013
The video makes clear the barbaric character of the Islamic fundamentalist forces the US has mobilized in its proxy war against Syria.
San Francisco International Film Festival 2013—Part one
The Kill Team: The murderous reality of the US war in Afghanistan
By Joanne Laurier, 16 May 2013
The 56th San Francisco International Film Festival recently concluded. The event this year screened 158 films from 51 countries, including 67 fiction features, 28 documentary features and 63 short films.
UN says US-backed opposition, not Syrian regime, used poison gas
By Alex Lantier, 7 May 2013
UN investigator Carla del Ponte’s statements explode the propaganda lie that the US is preparing to attack Syria to defend its people from chemical weapons.
UK base carrying out Afghan drone strikes
By Robert Stevens, 30 April 2013
A specially created mission base in Lincolnshire, England is directing drone strikes on Afghanistan.
Reports detail CIA war crimes in Pakistan
By Tom Carter, 20 April 2013
A series of recent articles by journalist Mark Mazzetti published in the New York Times have shed further light on the criminal activities of the US Central Intelligence Agency in Pakistan.
Moscow calls Obama’s human rights bluff
By Bill Van Auken, 16 April 2013
If ever there was a case of the pot calling the kettle black, the Obama administration’s indicting of Moscow for human rights violations is it.
Government witnesses to testify anonymously at Bradley Manning trial
By Naomi Spencer, 12 April 2013
A military judge ruled Wednesday that the government can call witnesses to testify in secret in the court martial against accused whistleblower Bradley Manning.
Dying US army veteran denounces “illegal” Iraq War
By David Walsh, 22 March 2013
Iraq War veteran Tomas Young, currently under hospice care at his home in Kansas City, Missouri, has written a “last letter,” addressed to former President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
New report on CIA: Rendition and torture on a global scale
By Jeff Lincoln, 20 March 2013
The US has utilized a global network of secret prisons, foreign intelligence agents, and interrogation and torture centers to send detainees to without any legal protections.
The Iraq War ten years on: A turning point for US imperialism
By Bill Van Auken and David North, 19 March 2013
This was a war of staggering criminality in both its planning and execution. It was a premeditated act of aggression launched on the basis of lies.
The New York Times’ Bill Keller smears Bradley Manning
By Naomi Spencer, 18 March 2013
Attempting to justify the Times’ unprincipled role in the events leading up to Manning’s arrest, the newspaper’s former executive editor wrote a column on March 10, “Bradley Manning’s Confidant.”
UN says US drone war in Pakistan violates international law
By Alex Lantier, 16 March 2013
According to the UN, the strikes launched by unmanned US drone aircraft in Pakistan are illegal.
Guardian/BBC report lays out US policy of torture, murder in Iraq
By Naomi Spencer, 12 March 2013
David Petraeus and other top US officials were involved in developing “El Salvador-style” death squads that tortured and murdered thousands in US-occupied Iraq.
Sri Lankan army report denies war crime accusations
By Sarath Kumara, 8 February 2013
The report is a bid by the military for a greater political role as social and economic tensions on the island sharpen.
The police state implications of Obama’s assassination program
By Joseph Kishore, 7 February 2013
The Obama administration’s “white paper” on the assassination of US citizens must be taken as a dire warning to the working class. The American ruling class, steeped in lawlessness and violence, is moving toward dictatorship.
Obama and Al Qaeda
By Bill Van Auken, 5 December 2012
As the US threatens to intervene in Syria on the pretext of countering chemical weapons, a sinister alliance between Washington and Al Qaeda comes ever more clearly into focus.
Army pre-trial hearing into March 2012 Afghan massacre concludes
By Naomi Spencer, 15 November 2012
Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, accused of killing 16 Afghan villagers, could face the death penalty if the Army recommends a court-martial.
Survivors describe bloodbath in Afghan atrocity
By Naomi Spencer, 15 November 2012
In testimony from Afghanistan, witnesses to the March 11 massacre described scenes of terror and grief.
UK High Court hears Pakistan drone killing case
By Robert Stevens, 2 November 2012
Noor Khan, whose father was killed by a drone missile strike, is calling on the High Court to look into whether UK intelligence officials provided assistance and if they are liable for prosecution.
Four Afghan children killed in US raid
By Bill Van Auken, 24 October 2012
The killing of Afghan children in a US raid and the disappearance and murder of civilians at the hands of occupation troops have provoked growing anger and protests.
No prosecution of US troops for defiling Afghan corpses, burning Korans
By Bill Van Auken, 29 August 2012
Three US Marines and six soldiers escaped criminal charges in connection with the videotaped urination on the corpses of slain Afghans and the burning of copies of the Koran, incidents that provoked bloody unrest earlier this year.
Obama administration to respond to lawsuit challenging assassination program
By Tom Carter, 20 August 2012
The Al-Aulaqi v. Panetta lawsuit highlights the extent to which democratic rights and the rule of law have been eroded under the Obama administration.
The New York Times makes the “moral case” for drones
By David Walsh, 19 July 2012
”The Moral Case for Drones,” published in the New York Times on July 14, seeks to justify the assassination program run out of the Obama White House.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung confirms: Houla massacre committed by Syrian “rebels”
By Clara Weiss, 16 June 2012
Journalist Rainer Hermann has confirmed his report in the June 7 Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung refuting the official version of the Houla massacre.
Democrats, Republicans criticize leaks, not drone murders
By Patrick Martin, 9 June 2012
House and Senate intelligence committee leaders of both parties demanded an investigation into leaks about US drone missile attacks and other covert actions.
NATO air strike kills Afghan family of eight
By Patrick Martin, 28 May 2012
Six children are among those killed in the eastern Afghanistan province of Paktia.
Filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow offered access to US military death squad
By David Walsh, 25 May 2012
Kathryn Bigelow, who won an Academy Award for directing The Hurt Locker, met with Pentagon and CIA officials in 2011 and was offered access to the Navy Seal team that executed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.
Photos of US troops defiling corpses expose Afghan war’s savagery
By David Walsh, 19 April 2012
On Wednesday, the Los Angeles Times published horrific photographs of American troops in Afghanistan posing with dead and dismembered insurgents.
US charges soldier with 17 counts of murder in Afghan massacre
By Bill Van Auken, 24 March 2012
The US government Friday officially charged Staff Sergeant Robert Bales in connection with the March 11 massacre of Afghan civilians, most of them children.
Afghanistan massacre: The product of a criminal war
By Bill Van Auken, 20 March 2012
Robert Bales, massacre, Afghanistan, PTSD, war, occupation
In wake of Afghan massacre, tensions mount between US and its puppet Karzai
By Bill Van Auken, 17 March 2012
President Karzai denounced the US military in connection with last Sunday’s massacre of 16 civilians, but Washington dismissed his demand that it speed up the transfer of security to Afghan forces.
Afghanistan’s My Lai
By Patrick Martin, 13 March 2012
Sunday’s mass murder by an Army staff sergeant demonstrates both the brutality and the deepening crisis of American imperialism’s war in Afghanistan.
Amnesty International details torture and murder in Libya
By Patrick Martin, 17 February 2012
A new report documents gruesome violations of human rights under the new regime established by the US-NATO war.
CIA drones target rescue workers, mourners
By Patrick Martin, 7 February 2012
An investigation by British and Pakistani journalists found that the CIA followed up drone missile strikes with further attacks that targeted rescue workers and funerals.
Former Gaddafi official tortured to death in Libya
By Patrick Martin, 4 February 2012
The murder of Omar Brebesh follows a series of reports by human rights groups on torture in the prisons of the new “democratic” Libya.
Follow the WSWS