On this site, we have earlier explained why US president Obama was in August reported to Swedish police for crimes against humanity. However, there was no sign of this when Obama visited Sweden in September. Afterwards, we have found out that the Swedish Prosecution Authority in Stockholm decided to close the case without forwarding it to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for further investigation. The authority did obviously not take into account that some of the alleged crimes were committed on territory, where ICC has jurisdiction. This is not the first time president Obama gets away with murder. In 2011, the Texas congressman Ron Paul said that the targeted killing of Anwar al-Awlaki might be an impeachable offense. However, the impeachment has not yet taken place. Anwar al-Awlaki and his 16-year-old son Abdulrahman al-Awlaki died in two separate drone strikes in Yemen 2011. Both were American citizens, making it a clear breach of the US constitution to deny them a fair trial.

In the Chinese torture case reported earlier on this site, six Communist Party officials have been sentenced to jail, according to BBC and other news media. This is a rare case of conviction for torture, although torture has happened in many countries, and even more countries have been complicit in sending people to torture or hosting secret prisons used for this. The wide-spread secrecy and impunity surrounding torture is one of the main reasons why torture can continue.

Today, the 10 October, is the international day against death penalty. In many cases of death penalty, we must ask ourselves who the real criminals are, for example when executing the innocent. A number of wrongful executions have been documented in several countries. Amnesty International has even reported a case in Somalia where a child was stoned after being raped. China and Iran are the highest users of death penalty in the world.

Smedley Butler pointed out already in 1935 that war is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the very many. One of the clearest examples is probably the Iraq war. From start, this war of agression was illegal, although some tried to justify it based on false information. After over 100.000 deaths, 3 trillion US dollars spent and many other severe consequences, we are still waiting for justice for this huge crime against humanity. In this process, let’s not forget the war profiteers, who were obviously involved in creating the war. The war resulted in an enormous transfer of wealth to them. One well known example is the company Halliburton, with ties to former US Vice President Cheney.

In 2008, the Constitutional Litigation Clinic sued President Bush over the Iraq war, but this was dismissed by courts. A book has also been written on the subject of prosecuting Bush. This year, we have seen a new lawsuit started against key members of the Bush administration. Not surprisingly, the US Department of Justice has requested that the accused receive full exemption from being tried for the Iraq war. This is the way impunity works and a main reason why government-related crime can thrive. However, it is surprising to see so little reaction from US taxpayers on this giant rip-off.