(01-05-2020, 09:16 AM)SilverFang01 Wrote: It being possibly illegal outside specific circumstances may not be a deterrent anymore since Trump has shown he'll absolutely pardon American military personnel that commit war crimes.
Except that warcrimes are a matter of international law, and a pardon by the USA federal government may not be enough of a shield. Because while it's generally preferred for such cases to be tried by the nation those military personnel work for, if such trials do not happen it's entirely within the bounds of the treaties for any other belligerent or the UN to demand and arrange such trials.
After all, both Nuremberg and the various warcrime tribunals performed in The Hague set that precedent. Or did you think Yugoslavia or its relevant successor states were all that happy that key, high ranking military personnel were abducted from their borders to stand trial?
America being the proverbial 800 pound gorilla doesn't actually help here, not when it's not impossible the EU as a whole tell the USA to pound sand when it comes to putting people who are extremely unpopular in the USA on trial, and the USA decides it's not worth the effort to enforce them conducting the trials themselves, or force the UN and the EU to stop. It does require a certain degree of egregious violence on the part of the USA when engaging Iran though, if things come to blows.