For over a hundred years, the United States of America has played the role of global policeman, democracy promoter and liberator—or so it claims. While its government routinely lectures the world about human rights and the rule of law, it has conveniently sidestepped accountability for its own war crimes, which range from chemical warfare in Vietnam to secret torture prisons in Afghanistan.
While policing the world with a mix of military interventions, regime changes, and drone strikes, the U.S. has drafted war crime tribunals for others, carefully sidestepping its own bloody footprints. From Libya to Eastern Europe, from Latin America to Central Africa, the U.S. has left behind a trail of destruction that conveniently escapes prosecution. This isn’t just international policing—it’s war crimes with branding.
Washington loves calling for tribunals for other countries but remains immune to any real prosecution. Why? Because when you write the rules, you get to break them too. This article uncovers some of America’s darkest war crimes—all backed by sources that underscore these are not conspiracies but documented atrocities.
The Vietnam War (1955–1975): A Chemical Apocalypse and the My Lai Massacre
One of the most devastating wars of the 20th century, Vietnam saw the U.S. unleash its full military might on a largely agrarian society—with methods so brutal that they are still classified as war crimes by international legal standards.
The most infamous? The My Lai Massacre (1968), where U.S. troops led by Lt. William Calley slaughtered between 347 and 504 unarmed Vietnamese civilians, including women, children, and the elderly. Reports describe horrific sexual violence, mutilation, and mass executions. Calley was convicted but only served three years under house arrest. War crime? Absolutely. Justice? Not even close.
Then there was Agent Orange, a toxic chemical herbicide the U.S. sprayed over vast parts of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. The U.S. military dumped millions of gallons of it, contaminating water supplies and causing cancer, birth defects, and environmental destruction that persists to this day. The Vietnamese people are still suffering, but America has never been held accountable.
Sources:
Human Rights Watch on Agent Orange
Iraq War (2003–2011): Abu Ghraib, Civilian Massacres, and a War Built on Lies
Under the false pretence of weapons of mass destruction, the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, killed over a million people, destroyed infrastructure, and left the country in ruins. But its most egregious war crimes came after the invasion.
Abu Ghraib (2003–2004) stands out as one of the worst cases of systemic U.S. war crimes in modern history. Photos revealed Iraqi detainees being stripped naked, electrocuted, sexually humiliated, and physically tortured. The so-called “bad apples” in the U.S. military faced light punishments, but the systematic abuse of detainees was never properly prosecuted.
Then there’s Fallujah (2004), where the U.S. used white phosphorus—a chemical weapon that melts human flesh—on civilian populations. Even today, birth defects in Fallujah are higher than in Hiroshima after the atomic bombings.
Sources:
The Intercept on White Phosphorus in Fallujah
The War in Afghanistan (2001–2021): 20 Years of Civilian Killings and Secret Torture Prisons
After 9/11, the U.S. launched a 20-year war in Afghanistan, promising to bring democracy but instead leaving a trail of bombed weddings, murdered civilians, and illegal detention centres.
In 2015, a U.S. airstrike obliterated a Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, killing 42 medical personnel and patients. The official excuse? “Mistaken identity.”
The CIA’s secret black sites, including in Bagram Air Base, saw prisoners subjected to beatings, waterboarding, and psychological torture. Some detainees were never charged, never tried, and simply disappeared.
Sources:
The Guardian on CIA Torture Sites
Human Rights Watch on Drone Strikes
Guantánamo Bay (2002–Present): America’s Legal Black Hole
Located outside U.S. jurisdiction, Guantánamo Bay was the perfect place for America to violate human rights without accountability.
Many detainees were held for over a decade without charges, subjected to torture techniques like waterboarding, sleep deprivation, and forced feeding. Even today, dozens of detainees remain imprisoned without trial.
Sources:
Hiroshima and Nagasaki (1945): The War Crime That Ended a War
In August 1945, the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing 200,000 civilians in an instant and countless more in the following years due to radiation poisoning.
Many military historians argue that Japan was already on the verge of surrender and that the bombings were not necessary. Instead, the real goal was to send a message to the Soviet Union—with Japanese civilians used as pawns in a geopolitical game.
Sources:
The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists
Other Notorious U.S. War Crimes
The list goes on:
- Korean War (1950–1953): The No Gun Ri massacre, where U.S. soldiers gunned down hundreds of South Korean civilians.
- Latin America (20th Century): U.S. trained and armed death squads in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Chile, leading to tens of thousands of deaths.
- Yemen (2015–Present): The U.S. supplies weapons to Saudi Arabia, which has bombed hospitals, schools, and markets.
Sources:
Al Jazeera on U.S.-Saudi War Crimes in Yemen
Who Holds the U.S. Accountable?
Despite overwhelming evidence of war crimes, no U.S. president, general, or senior official has ever been held accountable. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has tried to investigate, but the U.S. threatened sanctions against ICC judges.
The hypocrisy is staggering. The U.S. prosecutes other nations for war crimes while continuing to bomb, torture, and kill with impunity.
War Crimes as Policy
Here’s the problem: The U.S. writes the rules on war crimes, yet never follows them. It holds international tribunals for others, while blocking any investigation into its own actions. The International Criminal Court? The U.S. threatened to sanction it if it dared to investigate American soldiers.
Meanwhile, the media ensures that these crimes are “mistakes” and “unfortunate events” rather than the systematic violations of international law that they are.
So, what do we call a country that:
✔️ Invades nations on false pretences
✔️ Kills civilians indiscriminately
✔️ Uses chemical weapons
✔️ Sponsors death squads
✔️ Commits torture with impunity
A global superpower or a repeat war criminal? America doesn’t commit war crimes in exceptional cases—it’s a pattern, a policy, a method of enforcing its global dominance.
And yet, it never faces consequences. It turns the page and moves on to the next war.
Maybe it’s time the world stopped letting them.
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