Required for Con Law Students (Read WP or BBC Story)
Another European country is pursuing criminal charges against U.S. officials for abduction, rendition and torture. The Washington Post reports "A judge Friday indicted 26 Americans and five Italians in the abduction of an Egyptian terror suspect on a Milan street in what would be the first criminal trial stemming from the CIA's extraordinary rendition program." The BBC has additional coverage.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
Before I begin to discuss the article, I'd like everyone to actually read the BBC before reading any American news source. You will find it much more satisfying and less American-centric and fair.
Before I begin to discuss the article, I'd like everyone to actually read the BBC before reading any American news source. You will find it much more satisfying and less American-centric and fair.
what we're dealing with here is an extrajudicial act by an already corrupt beyond belief administration. Although I personally doubt that the President himself was aware of the FULL scope of violations occurring under his allowance of "extraordinary rendition", it does not excuse him as the Chief of State from being responsible for the reprucussions of his branch's actions.
-Hamza Khan
POLI 230
Constitutional Issues: What about the power of the Supreme Court in this case? Recalling Art. III S 2: "The judicial Power of the United States shall extend to all Cases...between a State , or the citizens thereof, and foreign States." So techinically, Italy's have prosecutors have jurisdiction in our Judiciary too, don't they? Shouldn't our government therefore invite the Italians to bring suit here first, as a matter of soveriegnty since these are OUR citizens?
-Hamza Khan
POLI 230
These types of cases are both pointless and a waste of valuable public resources. Let's face it: there's almost no chance any country, not to mention the US, will be willing to participate meaningfully in a "international trial" concerning its own intelligence operatives unless the evidence was so egregious as to merit a trial for diplomatic purposes. Certainly, the CIA won’t fork over their own operatives to an international court, the US has stated many times that it is against its own soldiers and operatives being trialed in international courts.
Ridiculous! The Italians are just pissed because the CIA got to him before they did. This stuff has been going on for decades. What do people think the CIA does? The story is very entertaining, but where's James Bond?
-Patriot
Its a violation of national soveriegnty! The CIA cannot just grab anyone and torture them abroad! We're not the USSR or Pakistan or any host of Muslim terror supporting nations!
Of course it's a violation of their sovereignty. My point is that this stuff still goes on, and will continue to do so. It's a "dirty little secret" that most nations have, but no one wants to admit.
-Patriot
Patriot, I get your REALpolitik point of view but just because something has always been happening and it will no doubt continue to happen does not mean that as people we should not show moral and civil outrage.
If the only defense a nation or a person needed for illegal activities was "This stuff has been going on for decades." Then what basis do we have to outlaw anything? Where do you draw the line? What isn't acceptable?
Post a Comment