War Crimes
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.
No prison time for Marine charged in Haditha massacre
By Naomi Spencer, 25 January 2012
As part of a plea deal, Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich, leader of a Marine squad responsible for the 2005 slaughter of 24 Iraqi civilians, received no prison time.
US-NATO war crimes in Libya
By Barry Grey, 23 January 2012
A report released last week by Middle East human rights groups presents extensive evidence of war crimes carried out in Libya by the United States, NATO and their proxy “rebel” forces.
Human rights groups charge NATO with war crimes in Libya
By Bill Van Auken, 21 January 2012
There is strong evidence that NATO carried out war crimes in its eight-month war for regime-change in Libya, according to a report released Thursday by Middle East human rights groups.
Torture charges dropped against UK intelligence officers
By Paul Mitchell, 17 January 2012
The prosecution case against intelligence officers accused of complicity in the torture of detainee Binyam Mohamed has been dropped.
US marines desecrate Afghan dead
By James Cogan, 13 January 2012
A video published yesterday shows four US marines in Afghanistan urinating on the heads of three Afghan dead, joking among themselves as they desecrate the corpses.
Afghan government accuses US of torture and false imprisonment
By James Cogan, 10 January 2012
The puppet government of President Hamid Karzai has accused the American military of torture and arbitrary detention at the largest US-run prison in the country.
Military trial begins for Marine charged in Iraq massacre
By Bill Van Auken, 5 January 2012
Today’s opening of the trial of a US Marine in connection with the 2005 massacre of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha casts a spotlight on the criminal character of the nine-year war and occupation carried out under the Bush and Obama administrations.
Iraq Veterans Against the War director speaks on Haditha massacre
By Bill Van Auken, 5 January 2012
Jose Vasquez, a US Army veteran and executive director of Iraq Veterans Against the War, spoke with the WSWS Wednesday on the Haditha massacre.
New revelations on 2005 Haditha massacre in Iraq
By Fred Mazelis, 21 December 2011
Unreported details of the internal investigation of the notorious Haditha massacre in Iraq were revealed in a special report in the New York Times.
Bradley Manning and the attack on democratic rights
By Naomi Spencer, 19 December 2011
Workers must oppose the persecution of military whistleblower Bradley Manning as part of a defense of democratic rights.
Army sergeant convicted as ringleader of Afghan war crimes
By Patrick Martin, 12 November 2011
Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs is the highest-ranking soldier convicted of the murder of three Afghan civilians and cutting off body parts as trophies.
The US and Gaddafi: The murderer calls for an investigation of the crime
By Bill Van Auken, 24 October 2011
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton solemnly announced Sunday that Washington “strongly supports” an independent investigation into the barbaric murder of Libya’s deposed head of state Muammar Gaddafi.
Former Guantanamo detainee David Hicks speaks with the World Socialist Web Site
By Richard Phillips, 22 October 2011
David Hicks talks about his illegal detention in Guantanamo and his ongoing demonisation by the Australian media
The “liberation” of Libya
By Bill Van Auken, 22 October 2011
Libya’s NATO-backed National Transitional Council is set to announce the supposed completion of the country’s “liberation” this weekend following the gruesome lynching of former ruler Muammar Gaddafi.
US and NATO murder Muammar Gaddafi
By Bill Van Auken, 21 October 2011
The savage killing Thursday of deposed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi served to underscore the criminal character of the war that has been prosecuted by the US and NATO over the past eight months.
The destruction of Sirte
By Patrick O’Connor, 19 October 2011
The atrocities now being committed in Sirte arise directly out of the nature and aims of the neo-colonial intervention itself.
UN report documents systematic torture of Afghan detainees
By Barry Grey, 12 October 2011
A report released Monday by the United Nations documents what it calls "systematic" torture at Afghan government prisons of suspected insurgents captured by US, NATO and Afghan authorities.
Obama boasts of assassinating American citizen in Yemen
By Bill Van Auken, 1 October 2011
In a speech before a military audience Friday, President Obama boasted of the role of the CIA and US special operations units in the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki, a New Mexico-born Muslim cleric and US citizen.
NATO admits killing BBC journalist in Afghanistan
By Harvey Thompson, 16 September 2011
NATO admitted last week that a US soldier shot dead BBC journalist Ahmed Omaid Khpalwak in Afghanistan in July.
Gage Inquiry into Mousa death whitewashes British Army once again
By Chris Marsden, 13 September 2011
The official inquiry into the death of hotel worker Baha Mousa continues efforts to minimise and apologise for abuses by UK troops in Iraq.
WikiLeaks cable confirms reports of US massacre of Iraqi civilians
By Alex Lantier, 6 September 2011
A US State Department cable recently published by WikiLeaks supports reports of a 2006 US massacre of civilians, including women and small children, in Iraq’s Ishaqi district.
Report details corporate plundering in Iraq, Afghanistan
By Patrick Martin, 3 September 2011
A joint congressional investigation has confirmed that US corporations raked in as much as $60 billion from waste and fraud in military contracts.
Evidence mounts of atrocities by Libyan “rebels”
By Patrick Martin, 29 August 2011
There are numerous reports from journalists in Tripoli of summary executions and torture by the NATO-backed forces that have seized power in Libya.
Secret interrogation policy confirms UK government’s complicity in war crimes
By Stephen Alexander, 12 August 2011
A secret interrogation policy document obtained by the Guardian is the latest in a growing body of evidence attesting to the war crimes of the previous Labour government.
After latest massacre, NATO to continue attacks on Afghan civilians
By Bill Van Auken, 1 June 2011
The US-led NATO command in Afghanistan brushed aside President Hamid Karzai’s demand for a halt to air strikes and night raids on Afghan homes after an attack that killed 14 civilians.
Mladic extradited to the Hague
By Chris Marsden and Markus Salzmann, 1 June 2011
The former chief of staff of the Bosnian Serb Army in the Republica Srpska during the 1992-95 civil war was extradited to the Netherlands on Tuesday, where he will stand trial at the Hague for war crimes.
Twelve children killed in another US massacre in Afghanistan
By Patrick O’Connor, 30 May 2011
The incident, one of several involving civilian deaths recently, is yet another atrocity committed by the US-NATO forces.
Book Review
Guantanamo: My Journey—David Hicks exposes torture and government criminality
By Richard Phillips, 19 May 2011
Former Guantanamo Bay prisoner David Hicks has written a valuable exposure of the barbarities perpetrated against him by the US military and Canberra’s role in his illegal detention.
Demjanjuk Nazi war crimes trial ends in Munich
By Sybille Fuchs, 18 May 2011
Last week, a court in Munich handed down a relatively mild sentence to Ukrainian-born John Demjanjuk on charges of accessory to murder involving 28,000 Jews at the Sobibor concentration camp in occupied Poland.
ICC prosecutor demands arrest warrant against Gaddafi
By Patrick O’Connor, 17 May 2011
In proceeding as it has against Gaddafi, the International Criminal Court has revealed itself to be a pliant tool of US and European imperialism.
US, NATO defend air strike that murdered Gaddafi family members
By Barry Grey, 3 May 2011
US and NATO officials have brushed aside charges by the Libyan government that the air strike Saturday night that killed the youngest son and three grandchildren of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was a targeted assassination intended to murder Gaddafi.
Guantanamo documents reveal US brutality and lawlessness
By Patrick Martin, 26 April 2011
WikiLeaks has released new evidence of wrongful imprisonment and torture by the US military and intelligence agencies.
US blocks UN torture investigator from seeing Bradley Manning
By Naomi Spencer, 13 April 2011
The Obama administration has blocked the UN special rapporteur on torture from visiting Bradley Manning, who is being held in solitary confinement at a military prison.
US Army clears “kill team” brigade commander of responsibility
By Naomi Spencer, 8 April 2011
An Army investigation into officers in charge of the brigade involved in killing Afghan civilians for sport concluded that its commander had no responsibility for the atrocities.
British government presses US over treatment of Bradley Manning
By Naomi Spencer, 6 April 2011
The British government indicated Tuesday it would press the US to moderate its inhumane treatment of Army Private Bradley Manning, who is being held on charges he leaked evidence of war crimes to WikiLeaks.
US-NATO bombings kill civilians in Tripoli
By Bill Van Auken, 1 April 2011
US-NATO air strikes on Tripoli have claimed growing numbers of civilian victims, according to the Vatican’s top representative in the Libyan capital.
Rolling Stone publishes photos of US war crimes in Afghanistan
By Naomi Spencer, 29 March 2011
The gruesome “kill team” photos released by Rolling Stone reveal that the murder of innocent civilians as part of the US occupation of Afghanistan was commonplace, widely known about, and celebrated.
Afghan “kill team” soldier sentenced to 24 years in prison for murder
By Naomi Spencer, 25 March 2011
Army soldier Jeremy Morlock was sentenced Wednesday to 24 years in prison for the murder of unarmed civilians in Afghanistan.
Photos released of atrocities by US “kill team” in Afghanistan
By Jerry White, 22 March 2011
The German news magazine Der Spiegel published three photographs on Monday depicting atrocities carried out by members of a US Army unit in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
Mounting criticism of US torture of Private Bradley Manning
By Patrick Martin, 19 March 2011
The ACLU is one of many groups to protest the treatment of Manning, the alleged source of documents on US war crimes published by WikiLeaks.
CIA killer Raymond Davis released by Pakistani authorities
New US drone attack kills dozens
By Ali Ismail, 18 March 2011
One day after Pakistani authorities released CIA agent Raymond Davis, the US carried out a fresh atrocity in Pakistan killing more than three dozen people.
Pakistan: US spy Raymond Davis allegedly tied to Islamicist groups
By Ali Ismail, 5 March 2011
Potentially explosive allegations concerning the covert activities of Raymond Davis, the CIA operative who gunned down two Pakistani youth in a Lahore market in late January, continue to emerge.
Another war crime in Afghanistan: US massacres nine children in air strike
By Joseph Kishore, 4 March 2011
The latest atrocity in the northeastern Kunar Province prompted protests of hundreds of Afghans, who denounced the US occupation and the Karzai regime.
Donald Rumsfeld publishes memoirs of an unrepentant war criminal
By Tom Eley, 10 February 2011
The publication of former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s memoirs has provided occasion for the American media to whitewash the career of a war criminal and falsify the history of the US war on Iraq.
Munich exhibition documents German army atrocity in Afghanistan
By Wolfgang Weber, 8 February 2011
Germany’s greatest post-World War II war crime has been comprehensively documented and exhibited by the two journalists who won the trust of the victims’ bereaved relatives.
Tony Blair’s testimony before Iraq inquiry: One war criminal amongst many
By Chris Marsden, 27 January 2011
The former British prime minister’s second appearance before the Chilcot inquiry last week again branded him as a war criminal.
More evidence of US war crimes
By Patrick Martin, 24 January 2011
Military documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union provide important new evidence of American war crimes.
Lawyer protests brutal treatment of Bradley Manning
By Tom Eley, 15 January 2011
The lawyer representing Private Bradley Manning, who is accused of turning over classified military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks, has demanded his release from a military prison, where he is being held in solitary confinement.
John Pilger’s The War You Don’t See: An indictment of news reporting as state propaganda
By Paul Mitchell, 4 January 2011
John Pilger’s The War You Don’t See examines the media’s role in wartime and asks whether it has become part of the propaganda machine of the state.
US, Europe concealed organ trafficking by Kosovo Liberation Army
By Tony Robson, 29 December 2010
The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) has been implicated in war crimes involving torture and the illicit trade in human organs removed from Serb civilians taken captive and killed during and after NATO’s 1999 war against Yugoslavia.
Cables expose Washington’s contempt for international law, democratic rights
By Barry Grey, 20 December 2010
Secret cables published in recent days by WikiLeaks reveal the efforts of the United States to thwart the exposure by the Council of Europe and the International Criminal Court (ICC) of human rights violations by the US and its allies.
US drones slaughter 54 in Pakistan
By Bill Van Auken, 18 December 2010
A series of CIA drone missile attacks Friday killed at least 54 people in the Khyber tribal region near the Afghanistan border.
Accused WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning held in solitary confinement
By Naomi Spencer, 18 December 2010
Army Private Bradley Manning, accused of leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks, has been held in solitary confinement by the military for more than seven months.
Another massacre of civilians in Afghanistan
By James Cogan, 13 December 2010
The killings point again to the murderous character of the operations being conducted by the Special Forces units scouring Afghanistan.
More details emerge in US Army kill team case
By Naomi Spencer, 22 November 2010
Hearings continued this week into atrocities committed on Afghan civilians by US Army soldiers in Kandahar.
Mounting evidence of British war crimes in Iraq
By Robert Stevens, 17 November 2010
Further allegations of British war crimes in Iraq emerged in the High Court in London last week.
US Army “kill team” hearing continues
By Naomi Spencer, 12 November 2010
Hearings continued Tuesday into charges of murder and other atrocities committed against Afghan civilians by a group of US soldiers stationed in Kandahar.
Bush on NBC: Rehabilitating a war criminal
By Patrick Martin, 10 November 2010
The former president defended every crime committed by his administration, from the illegal wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, to the use of torture, to the abandonment of New Orleans and the Gulf coast during Hurricane Katrina.
Mounting evidence of British war crimes
By Chris Marsden, 3 November 2010
Britain’s armed forces stand accused of torture and murder in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Interview with WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson
“The Iraq documents give a picture of the war that has been hidden until now”
By Jerry White, 2 November 2010
The WSWS recently spoke with WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson about the organization’s release of nearly 400,000 documents related to the Iraq War.
Canada’s role in the persecution of child soldier Omar Khadr
By Keith Jones, 30 October 2010
The Canadian government has aided and abetted the prosecution and persecution of child soldier Omar Khadr, from the time that it first learned of the detention of a Canadian citizen at Guantanamo Bay through this week’s plea-bargain.
Revelations of “systemic” torture by British military
By Paul Mitchell, 28 October 2010
The Guardian newspaper has obtained documents that reveal that British soldiers have been trained in torture techniques and have put these practices to use in Iraq.
WikiLeaks reveals private security contractors killed Iraqis with impunity
By Tom Eley, 27 October 2010
US military documents released by WikiLeaks on Friday reveal previously unknown cases of private military contractors killing Iraqi civilians with impunity.
The WikiLeaks documents and the rape of Iraq
By Joseph Kishore, 26 October 2010
The nearly 400,000 documents released by WikiLeaks give some indication of the barbaric reality of the US invasion and occupation of Iraq.
New York Times tries character assassination against WikiLeaks founder Assange
By Barry Grey, 25 October 2010
The response of the New York Times to WikiLeaks’ posting of classified American military documents exposing US war crimes in Iraq is to downplay the atrocities and portray WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as the criminal party.
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