US Imposes Unprecedented Sanctions on Four International Criminal Court Officials

On August 20, 2025, the United States imposed targeted sanctions on four International Criminal Court (ICC) officials, escalating an ongoing campaign to obstruct international judicial proceedings into potential war crimes.

Key Details:

• Four officials sanctioned: Two judges (Kimberly Prost and …

Yemeni Civilians File Lawsuit Against Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, and General Dynamics for Enabling War Crimes

On April 12, 2023, Yemeni civilians filed a lawsuit against Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and General Dynamics—three of the five largest US defense contractors—alleging that the companies supported war crimes by selling weapons to the Saudi Arabia and UAE-led coalition forces during the Yemen civil …

Raytheon-Manufactured Bomb Kills 80 at Yemen Detention Center in Worst Attack in Three Years

On January 21, 2022, a Saudi-led coalition airstrike hit a detention facility in Sa’adah, northwestern Yemen, killing at least 80 people and wounding over 200 in what the United Nations described as the “worst civilian-casualty incident in the last three years in Yemen.” Amnesty …

Daniel Hale Sentenced to 45 Months for Exposing Drone War Crimes

Former Air Force intelligence analyst and NSA contractor Daniel Everette Hale was sentenced to 45 months in federal prison for leaking classified documents that exposed the devastating civilian toll of the U.S. drone warfare program. His disclosures revealed that nearly 90 percent of people killed …

Trump Pardons Four Blackwater Contractors for Nisour Square Massacre

President Trump pardoned four Blackwater private military contractors convicted of killing 14 Iraqi civilians, including two children, in Baghdad’s Nisour Square in 2007. Nicholas Slatten, Paul Slough, Evan Liberty, and Dustin Heard were serving sentences ranging from 12 years to life …

Raytheon GBU-12 Bomb Kills Six Civilians Including Three Children in Yemen Village Attack

On June 28, 2019, a Saudi-led coalition airstrike struck a village in Yemen’s Dhamar governorate, killing six civilians including three children, using a weapon identified by Amnesty International as a Raytheon-manufactured GBU-12 Paveway II laser-guided bomb. The attack occurred just eight …

US-Made Bomb Kills 40 Children on School Bus in Yemen, Triggering International Outrage

On August 9, 2018, shortly before 8:30 AM, a Saudi-led coalition airstrike hit a school bus traveling through a crowded market in Dahyan, Saada governorate, Yemen, killing 40 children and 11 adults and wounding 79 others, including 56 children. The boys, aged 6 to 15, were on a summer school …

Raytheon-Manufactured Bomb Kills 23 at Yemen Wedding, Majority Women and Children

On April 22, 2018, a Saudi-led coalition airstrike struck a wedding celebration in northern Yemen, killing 23 people including the bride and predominately women and children. The weapon used was identified as a GBU-12 Paveway II precision-guided bomb, manufactured jointly by Lockheed Martin and …

Trump Nominates Gina Haspel as CIA Director Despite Role in Torture Program and Evidence Destruction

President Donald Trump announces his nomination of Gina Haspel to serve as CIA Director, making her the first woman nominated for the position despite her direct involvement in the CIA’s torture program and destruction of interrogation videotapes. Haspel ran the CIA’s “Cat’s …

Trump Approves Botched Yemen Raid Killing Navy SEAL Owens and 23+ Civilians Including 8-Year-Old American Girl

President Trump authorized his first military operation—a raid on the Yemeni village of Yakla targeting al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula—resulting in the death of Navy SEAL Chief William “Ryan” Owens, at least 23 civilians including nine children and six women, and an 8-year-old …

Saudi Coalition Uses US-Made Bombs to Kill 155 at Yemen Funeral Hall in Sanaa

On the afternoon of October 8, 2016, Saudi-led coalition aircraft struck the Al Kubra funeral hall in Sanaa, Yemen, with two airstrikes approximately three to eight minutes apart, killing 155 people and wounding at least 525 others in one of the deadliest single attacks of the Yemen war. The funeral …

Raytheon-Manufactured Bomb Kills 31 Civilians at Yemen Water Drilling Site in Apparent War Crime

Before dawn on September 10, 2016, Saudi-led coalition aircraft conducted repeated airstrikes on a water drilling site in Arhab, Sanaa governorate, Yemen, killing at least 31 civilians and wounding 42 others in what Human Rights Watch characterized as an apparent war crime. The first strike hit near …

Raytheon Paveway Bomb Strikes MSF Hospital in Yemen, Killing 11 Including Healthcare Workers

At approximately 3:45 PM on August 15, 2016, a Saudi-led coalition airstrike struck the Abs Hospital in Yemen’s Hajjah governorate, killing at least 11 people including an MSF staff member and injuring at least 19 others. The hospital was clearly marked as a medical facility and Médecins Sans …

U.S. Airstrike Destroys Doctors Without Borders Hospital in Kunduz, Kills 42

A U.S. Air Force AC-130 gunship launches sustained airstrikes against a Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, killing 42 people including 14 staff members, 24 patients, and 4 caretakers. The attacks continue for more than an hour despite frantic phone …

Saudi Arabia Launches Yemen Intervention Armed with Billions in Raytheon Weapons, Beginning Eight-Year Atrocity

On March 26, 2015, Saudi Arabia launched military intervention in Yemen’s civil war, beginning an eight-year bombing campaign that would kill over 19,000 civilians and create what the UN characterized as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. The Saudi-led coalition initiated operations …

Senate Report Documents CIA Torture Worse Than Disclosed - Rectal Feeding, Mock Executions, Deaths

The Senate Intelligence Committee report reveals that CIA torture was far more brutal and sadistic than the agency disclosed, documenting techniques that go beyond the authorized list to include rectal feeding and rehydration used as punishment, mock executions, threats to sexually assault …

Senate Intelligence Committee Releases Torture Report - CIA Program Was Brutal and Ineffective

The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence releases a 525-page executive summary of its comprehensive investigation into the CIA’s detention and interrogation program, revealing that the program was far more brutal, widespread, and ineffective than the CIA disclosed. The report, based on a …

Chelsea Manning Sentenced to 35 Years for WikiLeaks Disclosures

U.S. Army Private Chelsea Manning was sentenced to 35 years in military prison for leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks that exposed war crimes and civilian casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan. The sentence was the longest ever imposed on a whistleblower under the Espionage Act and sparked …

CIA Paid Psychologists Mitchell and Jessen $81 Million to Design Torture Program

The Senate Intelligence Committee’s investigation reveals that the CIA paid private contractors James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen $81 million to design, implement, and assess the effectiveness of the enhanced interrogation program. The psychologists had no interrogation experience, no background …

John Kiriakou Pleads Guilty - Only Person Jailed Over CIA Torture Program

Former CIA officer John Kiriakou pleaded guilty to violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act after being indicted under the Espionage Act for publicly confirming that waterboarding was official U.S. government policy. In a profound miscarriage of justice, Kiriakou became the only person …

Bureau Investigation Exposes CIA Double-Tap Drone Strikes Killing Rescuers and Mourners

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism publishes comprehensive evidence that the CIA conducts “double-tap” drone strikes—following an initial strike with a second strike targeting rescuers, medical personnel, and civilians who rush to help victims. The investigation documents at least …

Obama Administration Counts All Military-Age Males Killed by Drones as Combatants

The New York Times reveals that the Obama administration has adopted a secret policy counting “all military-age males in a strike zone as combatants…unless there is explicit intelligence posthumously proving them innocent.” This Orwellian methodology allows the administration to …

CIA Drone Strike Massacres 42 Civilians at Pakistani Tribal Council Meeting

A CIA drone strike on a tribal jirga (council meeting) in Datta Khel, North Waziristan kills at least 42 people, the vast majority of them civilians including tribal elders gathered to resolve a local mining dispute. The massacre represents one of the deadliest single drone strikes of Obama’s …

Erik Prince Receives $529M Contract to Build Secret Mercenary Army for UAE Crown Prince

Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater, was hired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi to create a secret, private mercenary army for the United Arab Emirates, receiving $529 million for the contract. The force, operated through Prince’s company Reflex Responses (R2), was …

Chelsea Manning Arrested for Leaking Classified Documents to WikiLeaks

U.S. Army Private First Class Bradley Manning (later Chelsea Manning) was arrested at Forward Operating Base Hammer in Iraq for allegedly leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks, including evidence of war crimes and civilian casualties. The arrest initiated what would …

Obama Authorizes CIA Signature Strikes - Killing Based on Behavior Patterns, Not Identity

President Obama secretly authorizes the CIA to conduct “signature strikes”—drone attacks that target groups of people based on patterns of suspicious behavior rather than confirmed identification of specific individuals. This policy shift enables the CIA to strike gatherings of …

Obama Releases CIA Torture Memos But Promises No Prosecutions for Torturers

President Barack Obama authorizes the Department of Justice to release four previously classified memos from the Office of Legal Counsel written between 2002 and 2005 that authorized CIA torture techniques including waterboarding, stress positions, sleep deprivation, and confinement in coffin-sized …

Blackwater Rebrands as Xe Services to Distance from Nisour Square Massacre and Iraq War Crimes

Blackwater Worldwide officially changed its name to Xe Services LLC in a strategic rebranding effort to distance the company from its toxic reputation following the 2007 Nisour Square massacre, congressional investigations documenting 195 shooting incidents in Iraq, and widespread accusations of war …

Obama Dramatically Expands CIA Drone Strike Program - Ten Times More Strikes Than Bush

President Barack Obama dramatically expands the CIA’s drone strike program in his first year in office, authorizing more strikes than George W. Bush conducted during his entire presidency. The expansion transforms armed drones from a limited counterterrorism tool into a systematic …

KBR's Faulty Electrical Work Kills Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, Part of Systematic Negligence Causing 18 Electrocution Deaths in Iraq with No Criminal Charges Despite Army Negligent Homicide Finding

Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, a 24-year-old Green Beret from Pittsburgh, was electrocuted in a shower at Radwaniyah Palace Complex near Baghdad on January 2, 2008, when an improperly grounded water pump installed by KBR short-circuited and sent electrical current through the shower water. Pentagon …

CIA Detainee Gul Rahman Froze to Death at Black Site - No One Prosecuted for Homicide

Gul Rahman, an Afghan detainee, dies of hypothermia at a CIA black site in Afghanistan known as the “Salt Pit” after being shackled half-naked to a concrete floor in a freezing cell overnight. Rahman’s death is ruled a homicide by the CIA’s medical examiner, yet no one is …

CIA Destroys 92 Torture Interrogation Videotapes to Conceal Evidence

CIA National Clandestine Service director Jose Rodriguez orders the destruction of 92 videotapes documenting hundreds of hours of brutal interrogations of Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri at secret CIA black sites. The tapes contain graphic evidence of waterboarding, stress positions, and …

Dick Cheney Lobbies Congress for CIA Exemption from McCain Torture Ban

Vice President Dick Cheney and CIA Director Porter Goss personally lobby Senator John McCain in an extraordinary attempt to exempt CIA officers from proposed legislation banning “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment” of any detainee held by the U.S. government. Despite the Senate voting …

Washington Post Reveals CIA's Secret Prison Network in Eastern Europe

Washington Post journalist Dana Priest publishes a groundbreaking investigation revealing the CIA operates a “hidden global internment network” of secret prisons, including facilities in “several democracies in Eastern Europe.” The article exposes the existence of CIA black …

Four Blackwater Contractors Killed in Fallujah Ambush, Bodies Hung from Bridge, Triggering First Battle of Fallujah

Four Blackwater contractors—Scott Helvenston, Jerry Zovko, Wesley Batalona and Mike Teague—were ambushed and killed by Iraqi insurgents while conducting a delivery for food caterers ESS in Fallujah. The contractors’ bodies were beaten, burned, dragged through the city streets, and hung from a …

CIA Begins Systematic Use of Enhanced Interrogation Techniques on Detainees

Following the authorization provided by the August 2002 Yoo-Bybee torture memos, the CIA begins systematically implementing “enhanced interrogation techniques” on terrorism suspects held at secret black site prisons. The program, developed by psychologists James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen …

Cheney Establishes Legal Framework and Authorization for CIA Torture Program

Vice President Dick Cheney systematically orchestrated the creation and authorization of the CIA’s ’enhanced interrogation’ torture program through National Security Council Principals Committee meetings and legal manipulation. Working closely with legal counsel David Addington and …

CIA Authorized to Conduct Extraordinary Rendition - Kidnapping Suspects for Torture Abroad

Following the September 11 attacks, President Bush authorizes the CIA to conduct “extraordinary rendition”—the extrajudicial kidnapping and transfer of terrorism suspects to foreign countries for detention and interrogation, often involving torture. CIA Director George Tenet and …

Donald Rumsfeld Meets Saddam Hussein as Reagan Special Envoy to Iraq

President Reagan sends Donald Rumsfeld as a special envoy to Baghdad to meet with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, establishing formal diplomatic relations and initiating a strategic partnership during the Iran-Iraq War. The now-infamous handshake between Rumsfeld and Hussein symbolizes the Reagan …