Defence chiefs gag damning Iraq invasion findings

Guardian

Highly critical comments by a senior army officer asked to conduct a study of the circumstances surrounding the invasion of Iraq have been suppressed on the orders of the country's top defence officials, the Guardian has learned.

The study, by Lt Gen Chris Brown, was commissioned in the light of mounting evidence of the failure to prepare properly for the invasion and its consequences.

Former senior military officers and defence officials have already described their anger and frustration about the failures in damning testimony to the Chilcot inquiry into the 2003 Iraq invasion. One of the inquiry's key objectives is to spell out the lessons that should be learned from what is widely regarded in Whitehall as an ill-conceived operation of dubious legality and, in foreign policy terms, a disaster comparable to the 1956 Suez crisis.

Against this background, the Ministry of Defence agreed to conduct its own study. However, Brown's criticisms were so harsh that they have been suppressed following the intervention of Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, chief of the defence staff, and other officials, who considered them too embarrassing even for internal consumption at the MoD.

Defence chiefs also appear to be worried that once Brown's study was passed to Sir John Chilcot to help him with his inquiry, they would lose control of the contents.

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Top Construction Firm: WTC Destroyed By Controlled Demolition

Respected Middle East expert and former BBC presenter Alan Hart has broken his silence on 9/11, by revealing that the world’s most prominent civil engineering company told him directly that the collapse of the twin towers was a controlled demolition.

Speaking on the Kevin Barrett show yesterday, Hart said he thought the 9/11 attack probably started as a Muslim operation headed up by Osama Bin Laden but that the plot was subsequently hijacked and carried out by Mossad agents in collusion with elements of the CIA, adding that since its formation, Israel has penetrated every Arab government and terrorist organization.

“My guess is that at an early point they said to the bad guys in the CIA – hey this operation’s running what do we do, and the zionists and the neo-cons said let’s use it,” said Hart, making reference to how top neo-cons like Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and their fellow Project For a New American Century authors had called for a “catastrophic and catalyzing event––like a new Pearl Harbor,” the year before 9/11.

“The twin towers were brought down by a controlled ground explosion, not the planes,” said Hart, adding that this view was based on his close friendship with consultants who work with the world’s leading civil engineering and construction firm.

Hart asked the company to study the collapse of the twin towers, after which they told him directly, “There’s absolutely no doubt whatsoever that the towers were brought down by a controlled ground explosion.”

Hart then explained how the five dancing Israelis seen celebrating the attack on the World Trade Center in New Jersey as it unfolded, who turned out to be Mossad agents, proves at at a minimum Israel knew the attack was going to happen.

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Senior BBC Mideast Correspondent: "Here's what may have REALLY happened on 9/11"!

Breaking his self-imposed rule against talking about 9/11, former Senior BBC Mideast Correspondent and author  Alan Hart described what he thinks may have really happened on that fateful day on yesterday's Kevin Barrett show.

Hart, who got to know Yasser Arafat and Golda Meir while serving as a Security Council-briefed Mideast peace negotiator, said that he has been assured by a top-level demolitions/engineering expert who wishes to remain anonymous that the three World Trade Center skyscrapers were destroyed by controlled demolitions, not plane crashes and fires. (For the names of more than 1000 experts willing to go on the record with the same opinion, see http://www.ae911truth.org).

During the hour-long interview, Hart discussed Israel's record of engaging in outrageous attacks on friend and foe alike, and spreading even more outrageous lies to cover them up. (Around the midpoint of the show he explained the real reason Israel attacked the U.S.S. Liberty in 1967.)

Regarding 9/11, Hart suggested that while there may have been some original terrorist plot conceived by fellow-travelers of Osama Bin Laden, the Israeli Mossad, with its near-total penetration of Middle Eastern governments and terrorist groups alike, would have quickly detected and hijacked the operation to its own ends, orchestrating a spectacularly successful attack on America designed to be blamed on its Arab and Muslim enemies. Hart added that the Mossad operation that became 9/11 would have been aided and abetted by certain corrupt American leaders.

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BP faces extra $60bn in legal costs

The oil disaster unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico could present BP with much higher costs than previously thought as a result of US government penalties of up to $60bn (£40bn), according to City analysts.

The penalties are in addition to BP's already huge bill for the clean-up mission, which stood at $760m yesterday, and potentially unlimited damages payable by the company to fishermen and other affected local communities. BP also faces billions of dollars of lost earnings as a result of its damaged reputation in the US, which could result in it being barred from bidding for future contracts.

The Guardian has obtained a confidential briefing, from a top-level US environmental lawyer who specialises in oil industry litigation, to stockbroker Canaccord, assessing the financial impact of impending legal action on BP.

He warned that, under US law, BP is liable for $1,100 in civil penalties for each spilt barrel of oil and gas, to be paid to the US federal and affected state governments. If BP is found to have acted with gross negligence – and there is no evidence so far that it has – this fine would rise to $4,300 for each barrel.

The issue of legal liability for the accident is complex, involving US federal and state laws. City analysts' calculations of the bill faced by BP have ignored the potentially ruinous cost of civil penalties.

They also highlight the implications for BP of establishing how much oil is leaking from the damaged pipeline, which is hard to measure – unlike a leaking tanker, which holds a finite amount of oil.

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CIA's secret Iraq weapon revealed: a Saddam gay sex tape

Guardian

In their time, America's secret agencies have tried some outlandish schemes to attack their country's enemies, including, most famously, an attempt to do away with Cuba's Fidel Castro by using an exploding cigar.

But in a scenario more the preserve of careless Hollywood starlets such as Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian, the CIA appears to have plotted to undermine Saddam Hussein with a gay sex tape.

According to the Washington Post's security blog, some of America's spooks believed that shooting a fake video of Saddam cavorting with a teenage boy might destabilise his regime in the runup to the US-led invasion in 2003. "It would look like it was taken by a hidden camera. Very grainy, like it was a secret videotaping of a sex session," the Washington Post quoted one former CIA official as saying.

Nor was the Saddam sex tape the only idea floating around the more bizarre corners of the CIA's Iraq Operations Group. Other ploys involved interrupting Iraqi television with a false newsflash that would announce Saddam was handing over power to his hated and feared son Uday. The presumed idea was to shock the Iraqi people into rising up against their leaders and thus make the invasion a lot easier.

Perhaps thankfully, the tape and fake news broadcast were never made and the Post reported that top CIA brass repeatedly rejected the ideas.

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US sends more soldiers on covert missions

The US military is expanding covert operations in the Middle East, central Asia and the Horn of Africa, sending troops on undercover operations that were previously left mainly to the CIA and other civilian spy agencies.

Pentagon officials confirmed today that General David Petraeus, the head of US Central Command, signed the order in September to broaden the scope of surveillance and other undercover work in these regions.

It opens the way for clandestine operations more extensive than those approved under the Bush administration. There are few details in the order about specific operations, but US military teams have been variously reported to be active in Iran, Yemen, Syria, Somalia, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere.

Special operations teams will work, sometimes alongside local forces, to penetrate and disrupt groups such as al-Qaida and prepare for future attacks, possibly against Iran.

The New York Times, which disclosed the existence of the new order, said it was aimed primarily at intelligence-gathering rather than the kind of offensive covert actions directed by Donald Rumsfeld while he was Bush's defence secretary.

According to the Times, the focus of the intelligence-gathering is to identify militants and it would be carried out not only by American troops but by business workers, academics and others.

This revelation will increase the already existing suspicion in some of these countries of people travelling for business or study.

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Justice Dept. cracks down on leaks

Politico

The Obama administration’s crackdown on leaks to the press has snared a high-profile conviction of an FBI linguist, who was sentenced to 20 months in prison Monday after pleading guilty to giving classified information to a blogger.

The sentence for Shamai Leibowitz is likely to become the longest ever served by a government employee accused of passing national security secrets to a member of the media. His case represents only the third known conviction in U.S. history for a government official or contractor providing classified information to the press.

And it reflects a surprising development: President Barack Obama’s Justice Department has taken a hard line against leakers, and Obama himself has expressed anger about disclosures of national security deliberations in the press.

“I think it’s remarkable,” said Gabriel Schoenfeld, a fellow at the conservative Hudson Institute who urged prosecution of The New York Times for publishing details of the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping program in 2005. “This is the administration that came in pledging maximum transparency. Plugging leaks is ... traditionally not associated with openness.”

“They’re going after this at every opportunity and with unmatched vigor,” said Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists, a critic of government classification policy.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0510/37721.html#ixzz0p3tngHqR

Pentagon Seeks Private Contractor to Move Weapons Through Pak/Afghanistan

The United States military is in the process of taking bids from private war contractors to secure and ship massive amounts of US military equipment through sensitive areas of Pakistan into Afghanistan where it will then be distributed to various US Forward Operating Bases and other facilities. According to the contract solicitation [PDF], "There will be an average of 5000" import shipments "transiting the Afghanistan and Pakistan ground lines of communication (GLOC) per month, along with 500 export shipments." The solicitation states that, "This number may increase or decrease due to US military transportation requirements," adding, "The contractor must maintain a constant capability to surge to any location within Afghanistan or Pakistan" within a 30-day period. Among the duties the contractor will perform is "intelligence, to include threat assessments throughout Afghanistan and Pakistan."

And while it seems the US is trying to put a Pakistani or Afghan face on the work, the terms of the contract mandate that US personnel will be involved with inherently risky and potentially lethal operations. Among the firms listed by the Department of Defense as "interested vendors" are an Afghan firm tied to a veteran CIA officer and run by the son of Afghan defense minister, Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak, and a Pakistani firm with links to Blackwater.

Perhaps most striking about this US military contract solicitation is the admission by the military that contractors are being used for shipping and guarding military hardware as a run-around to the current official policy of the US and Pakistan governments that the US military does not conduct operations in Pakistan. "Due to current limitations on having US military presence in Pakistan and threat levels precluding US Military active involvement with the contractor 'outside the wire' in Afghanistan, the contractor must be proactive at identifying appropriate methods for obtaining the necessary in-transit visibility information," according to the contract solicitation.

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Increased number of cancer patients in Serbia because of the NATO bombing

The Left Anchor

It has been shown that the rapid growth in the number of cancer patients on Kosovo and other regions of Serbia and in Bosnia-Herzegovina today is related to the humanitarian intervention of NATO in the second half of the 90s twentieth century.

According to official data released during the NATO bombing of Serbia 113 locations in 300 tons of radioactive ammunition. According to the documentation of NATO missiles were fired 31 000 radioactive. According to the Russian Federation would be 90 000. According to information from NATO in the Republic of Serbia (now part of Bosnia and Herzegovina) were released six tonnes of DU ammunition, especially in the region of Hadžić, Pala and Han Pijesak, thereby threatening the lives of more than 100 000 people. According to NATO in Serbia were released 13 tons of depleted uranium ammunition.

Statistics show that since 1999 the number of patients with malignant tumors in Serbia has increased six times. The number of patients with malignant tumors of the province of Kosovska Mitrovica since 1999 has increased by 100%, while the number of inhabitants in the province has decreased by 20% compared to the original level. 80% of victims in the province of malignant tumors have become ill as a result of radioactive ammunition, banging suddenly to lose weight, feel physically weak and coughing up blood. Especially relevant are such cases of children Bosnian Serbs, which began shortly after the “humanitarian bombings” of losing fingernails, hair and skin.

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Secret order prepares new US wars in Middle East and Central Asia

WSWS

A front-page article in Tuesday’s New York Times reveals the existence of a secret directive signed by Gen. David Petraeus, chief of the US Central Command, ordering the expansion of covert military operations throughout the Middle East, Central Asia and the Horn of Africa. The seven-page document, entitled “Joint Unconventional Warfare Task Force Execute Order,” essentially provides the US military with a blank check to carry out aggressive acts against virtually any country.

Issued in September 2009, the order calls for the creation of a network of covert task forces and intelligence-gathering units which will “penetrate, disrupt, defeat or destroy” any target within any country designated by the US military. These forces will carry out clandestine operations which “cannot or will not be accomplished” through other military means.

Once inside the targeted country, US forces will also “prepare the environment” for full-scale military assaults. In addition to military personnel, the Times reports, Petraeus’s order enlists “foreign businesspeople, academics or others” in “persistent situational awareness” efforts—in other words, in spying.

The US will target countries considered hostile as well as countries with which it has maintained friendly relations. Among the countries cited by the Times as potential targets are Iran, Saudi Arabia and Somalia. The Times also reports that the document “appears to authorize specific operations in Iran, most likely to gather intelligence about the country’s nuclear program or identify dissident groups that might be useful for a future military offensive.”

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U.S. Heads a Cast of Villains in Pakistan’s Conspiracy Talk

Americans may think that the failed Times Square bomb was planted by a man named Faisal Shahzad. But the view in the Supreme Court Bar Association here in Pakistan’s capital is that the culprit was an American “think tank.”

No one seems to know its name, but everyone has an opinion about it. It is powerful and shadowy, and seems to control just about everything in the American government, including President Obama.

“They have planted this character Faisal Shahzad to implement their script,” said Hashmat Ali Habib, a lawyer and a member of the bar association.

Who are they?

“You must know, you are from America,” he said smiling. “My advice for the American nation is, get free of these think tanks.”

Conspiracy theory is a national sport in Pakistan, where the main players — the United States, India and Israel — change positions depending on the ebb and flow of history. Since 2001, the United States has taken center stage, looming so large in Pakistan’s collective imagination that it sometimes seems to be responsible for everything that goes wrong here.

“When the water stops running from the tap, people blame America,” said Shaista Sirajuddin, an English professor in Lahore.

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Afghans believe US is funding Taliban

It's near-impossible to find anyone in Afghanistan who doesn't believe the US are funding the Taliban: and it's the highly educated Afghan professionals, those employed by ISAF, USAID, international media organisations – and even advising US diplomats – who seem the most convinced. 

One Afghan friend, who speaks flawless English and likes to quote Charles Dickens, Bertolt Brecht and Anton Chekhov, says the reason is clear. "The US has an interest in prolonging the conflict so as to stay in Afghanistan for the long term." 

The continuing violence between coalition forces and the Taliban is simple proof in itself. 

"We say in this country, you need two hands to clap," he says, slapping his hands together in demonstration. "One side can't do it on its own." 

His arguments are reasoned, although he slightly ruins the effect by explaining to me that no Jews died in the Twin Towers. It's not just the natural assets of Afghanistan but its strategic position, the logic goes. Commanding this country would give the US power over India, Russia, Pakistan and China, not to mention all the central Asian states. 

"The US uses Israel to threaten the Arab states, and they want to make Afghanistan into the same thing," he says. "Whoever controls Asia in the future, controls the world." 

"Even a child of five knows this," one Kabuli radio journalist tells me, holding his hand a couple of feet from the ground in illustration. Look at Helmand, he says; how could 15,000 international and Afghan troops fail to crush a couple of thousand of badly equipped Taliban?

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Warning: Crash dead ahead. Sell. Get liquid. Now.

ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- "This game's in the refrigerator! The door's closed, the lights are out, the eggs are cooling, the butter's getting hard and the Jell-O is jiggling ..."

That was legendary Lakers' radio announcer Chick Hearn's signature way of calling a game early, telling fans the home team won ... you can head for the exits before the final buzzer. Chick wrote the book with popular sports phrases like "slam dunk," "air ball," "charity stripe," and a "bunny hop in the pea patch" for a traveling violation.

Chick's our inspiration today: Last March I wrote "6 reasons I'm calling a bottom and a new bull." Today it's time for a new call. We've had a good year. Net gains over 50% in 2009. But now: "Game over, head for the exits." Bears beating bulls.

No, no, "it's a buying opportunity," says another legend, hedge fund manager, Barton Biggs. Buying opportunity? For who? Remember, Biggs isn't advising Joe Lunchbox about what to do with his little 401(k). Biggs' customers are mega-millionaires in his $1.5 billion Traxis Partners Fund. Main Street investors like Joe are prey in his casino.

Read on, you decide: As you stare from high up in the nose-bleed bleachers watching the game, staring at a Dow that not long ago was above 11,000 and heading for 12,000. Now the Dow's sitting on the bench, ready for the showers, weak after a couple air balls around 10,000. No more timeouts. "This game's in the refrigerator."

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The Firewall That Clinton and Gramm tore down in 1999 will not be going back up

NY Times

As Reform Takes Shape, Some Relief on Wall St.

The financial reform legislation making its way through Congress has Wall Street executives privately relieved that the bill does not do more to fundamentally change how the industry does business.

Despite the outcry from lobbyists and warnings from conservative Republicans that the legislation will choke economic growth, bankers and many analysts think that the bill approved by the Senate last week will reduce Wall Street’s profits but leave its size and power largely intact. Industry officials are also hopeful that several of the most punitive provisions can be softened before it is signed into law.

Though there is anger in some quarters, other financial executives seem resigned to the changes, acknowledging that after the industry’s excesses set the stage for the deepest recession since the 1930s, there were bound to be major reforms.

“While I don’t agree with everything in the bill, given everything that’s happened during the financial crisis, it was inevitable that new regulation would come to Wall Street,” said Donald B. Marron, the former chief executive of PaineWebber and now the head of Lightyear Capital, a New York private equity firm. “Despite these new rules, Wall Street will continue to provide the same important business services because the same needs are still there — creating liquidity; financing governments, corporations and individuals; and providing financial advice and products.”

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Goldman: The Next Shoe To Drop Is The Bad News Coming In From The US Economy

Why did markets fall so hard last week?

Most folks assumed that it had something to do with fears of a Eurolehman, but it also seems possible that the market is reacting to what it normally reacts to: expectations of a slowing economy.

This was the essence of Richard Russell's big "sell everything" call, that the market was telling him that a bad economy was around the corner.

Credit expert David Goldman at Asia Times is thinking along the same lines, that the weakening US economy is the next shoe to drop.

And the bad news is already coming:

1) Unemployment claims rose to 471,000 vs expectations of 439,000 in the week ended May 15;

2) One in seven American mortgages is behind in payments;

3) Foreclosures reached a record as the banks work through their backlog;

4) Mortgage applications last week fell to the lowest level since the survey was conducted;

5) Commercial real estate prices continue to fall.

Along these lines, this week we get Case-Shiller and the first revision to Q1 GDP, so, this idea might have more to go on very soon.

http://www.businessinsider.com/david-goldman-the-next-shoe-to-drop-is-the-bad-news-coming-in-from-the-us-economy-2010-5

"Knowing" movie of 2009 and the Oil Rig Explosion in the Gulf of Mexico 2010

Oil Spill = Illuminati's Covert War on America

by Henry Makow, Ph.D.

We think of war in terms of missiles and tanks and bombs. But a far superior form of war is to disguise attacks as false flag terrorism like 9-11, natural disaster like Katrina or an accident like the April 20 BP oil spill.

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Small businesses threatened with 1099 tax form tyranny provision in health care bill

According to a recent report from CNNMoney.com, the massive U.S. health care system overhaul includes more than just a transition to government-run medicine. A small section hidden away in the 2,409-page bill requires all businesses to send 1099 tax forms to every company or individual from which they purchased more than $600 in services and goods throughout the tax year, beginning on January 1, 2012.

As you'll see below, this new law threatens to cause a wave of paperwork chaos across the entire U.S. economy, stifling the operations of small businesses and driving more jobs overseas.

Here's why...

For those of you who aren't familiar with a 1099, this tax document is typically issued to independent contract workers who receive payments for work they've done. "Employees" of businesses are issued W-2 forms at the end of the tax year while independent contractors and other freelancers making money outside of the wage structure receive 1099 forms.

But the new change (conveniently slipped into the health care bill that nobody actually read prior to voting on it) drastically expands the scope of 1099s. Not only will contract workers be receiving them, but so will millions of individuals and companies that receive more than $600 in payments for services and products they provide throughout the tax year.

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BP Kept Using Toxic Chemical in Gulf After E.P.A. Deadline

The effort to stanch the vast oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was mired by setbacks on Monday as state and federal officials feuded with BP over its failure to meet deadlines and its refusal to stop spraying a toxic dispersant.

The oil company had indicated that it could stem the flow of oil on Tuesday by trying a procedure known as a top kill, in which heavy fluid would be pumped into the well. But on Monday morning the company’s chief operating officer said the procedure would be delayed until Wednesday. At the same time, BP was locked in a tense standoff with the Environmental Protection Agency, which had ordered the company to stop using a toxic chemical dispersant called Corexit by Sunday.

But BP continued spraying the chemical on Monday, despite the E.P.A.’s demand that it use a less toxic dispersant to break up the oil. The company told the agency that no better alternative was available.

At a news conference Monday in Louisiana, state and federal officials continued to hammer BP over its response to the spill.

“BP in my mind no longer stands for British Petroleum — it stands for Beyond Patience,” said Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate. “People have been waiting 34 days for British Petroleum to cap this well and stop the damage that’s happening across the Gulf of Mexico.”

“What we need to tell BP,” he added, “is excuses don’t count anymore. You caused this mess, now stop the damage and clean up the mess. It’s your responsibility.”

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Drones and Democracy

Huffington Post

Islamabad, Pakistan -- On May 12th, the day after a U.S. drone strike killed 24 people in Pakistan's North Waziristan, two men from the area agreed to tell us their perspective as eyewitnesses of previous drone strikes.

One is a journalist, Safdar Dawar, General Secretary of the Tribal Union of Journalists. Journalists are operating under very difficult circumstances in the area, pressured by both militant groups and the Pakistani government. Six of his colleagues have been killed while reporting in North and South Waziristan. The other man, who asked us not to disclose his name, is from Miranshah city, the epicenter of North Waziristan. He works with the locally based Waziristan Relief Agency, a group of people committed to helping the victims of drone attacks and military actions. "If people need blood or medicine or have to go to Peshawar or some other hospital," said the social worker, "I'm known for helping them. I also try to arrange funds and contributions."

Both men emphasized that Pakistan's government has only a trivial presence in the area. Survivors of drone attacks receive no compensation, and neither the military nor the government investigate consequences of the drone attacks.

Mr. Dawar, the journalist, added that when he phoned the local political representative regarding the May 12th drone attack, the man couldn't tell him anything. "If you get any new information," said the political representative, "please let me know."

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Amnesty Says Governments Aid Rights Abuses

Powerful governments and political expediency are helping to perpetuate torture, war crimes and other human rights abuses around the world, Amnesty International said Thursday in its annual report.

“Too many perpetrators are getting away with some of the worst crimes known to humanity,” said Claudio Cordone, the interim secretary general of the organization.

Governments were among the worst of the offenders, according to the group’s 2010 report, which surveyed conditions in 159 countries last year. People were tortured in 111 nations, Amnesty International reported, as “human rights abusers enjoyed impunity for torture in at least 61 countries.”

The report sharply criticized some of the world’s largest and most powerful nations for not fully signing up to the International Criminal Court — notably the United States, China, India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Russia.

So far, 111 nations have signed onto the court, leaving 81 non-signees, including 7 of the Group 0f 20 leading industrial powers. By refusing to join, Mr. Cordone said, “they undermine the court.”

Cases brought before the court, he added, are increasingly being “seen for what they are: serious crimes to be investigated and prosecuted, as opposed to political issues to be resolved through diplomatic channels.”

The Amnesty report applauded the court for issuing an arrest warrant for the Sudanese president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, charging him with war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Darfur region. It was the first warrant issued for a sitting president.

But the report said the refusal of the African Union to cooperate with the court on Darfur was “a stark example of governmental failure to put justice before politics.”