Washington has once again revealed to the world its U.S. supremacy mindset, as well as American hegemony, in its latest decision to sanction International Criminal Court (ICC) officials.

This bout of discord between the Hague-based ICC and Washington started in 2017 when the court's chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda from Gambia, announced there was sufficient evidence to prove that U.S. forces "committed acts of torture, cruel treatment, outrages upon personal dignity, rape and sexual violence" after invading Afghanistan in 2003, as well as at CIA facilities located in such countries as Poland, Lithuania, and Romania.

The United States revoked the visa of Bensouda last year after she insisted on the investigation. Washington also threatened to take the same action against other ICC officials involved in the investigation. But the court refused to back off. Early in March this year, the ICC overturned an appeal to block the investigation. Three months later, Washington decided to punish those who dare to disobey its will.

By announcing economic and visa sanctions against international investigators probing potential war crimes committed by U.S. troops in Afghanistan, the White House is sending out a message that those who submit to the U.S. will prosper and those who resist shall perish.

The restrictive measures also apply to the family members of the ICC officials who are directly involved in the investigation and prosecution process. It raises the question over what era we are living in.

In a statement issued on Thursday, Washington said the ICC's move to investigate and prosecute American soldiers who committed crimes in Afghanistan is "an attack on the rights of the American people and threatens to infringe upon our national sovereignty." However, when the United States wants to enforce its domestic laws on foreign nationals, such as senior Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, who have committed no crimes on U.S. soil, the idea of infringing upon other countries' sovereignty and the rights of other people seems to have never crossed its mind.

To justify Washington's retaliatory actions against the international court, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, "We hold our own accountable better than the ICC has done for the worst perpetrators of mass criminal atrocities." But the fact is, among the various American war atrocities, such as prisoner abuse, indiscriminate killings and rapes, almost none were first publicized by the U.S. government or military.

Washington is usually forced to make a statement only after the incidents were exposed by the media. Furthermore, U.S. soldiers personally responsible for the crimes were only punished disproportionately or able to completely escape punishment.

Take the notorious Haditha killings as an example. A group of U.S. Marines killed at least 24 unarmed civilians in the Iraqi city on November 19, 2005. Among the dead were women and children as young as one, who were shot multiple times at close range. But the U.S. military didn't investigate the incident until Time magazine published a report about the incident four months later.

In August 2006, an Associated Press report cited a Pentagon official, who said that the investigation found evidence that "supports accusations that U.S. Marines deliberately shot civilians." However, among the eight Marines involved in the series of killings, only one was charged and sentenced to 90 days in prison, along with a reduction in pay and rank from staff sergeant to private in January 2012. Charges against six of the seven other Marines involved were dropped by June 2008. And the last one was "found not guilty on all charges." Three senior commanders only received letters of censure from the Navy in connection to the killings.

All in all, the lives of 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians were worth one Marine's three months of freedom and a few thousands of dollars. The U.S. is telling the world that lives don't matter if they are not American.

The ICC has called the U.S. sanctions "an escalation and unacceptable attempt to interfere with the rule of law and the court's judicial proceedings," adding that an attack on the ICC represents "an attack against the interests of victims of atrocity crimes, for many of whom the court represents the last hope for justice."

By exerting coercion on ICC officials, Washington has once again put into practice American exceptionalism. It reveals that the United States, which turned from a colony into the world's only superpower over the past two centuries, pursues American supremacy, rather than the universal values, including justice, that it trumpets.

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