Case 296 - The International Criminal Court (ICC): Could American Military Officers Be Tried in The Hague?

MacGuish, Donald and Tom Ruby

This case study is a fictionalized account of what some American military personnel fear is in store for officers and politicians in the United States. The time is two years in the future, and the United States has concluded a short military campaign to protect a minority population facing a humanitarian disaster in the eastern Mediterranean. In the course of the conflict, discipline issues raised by the U.S. forces became legal issues for the International Criminal Court (ICC).

For teaching purposes, the authors recommend that professors consider dividing their classes into three groups to argue for the three courses of action presented, with the professor acting as president. The instructor should lead the students to consider both long- and short-term domestic and international ramifications of the course of action they are advocating.