Posted on 12/30/2009 11:23:06 PM PST by Red Steel
WASHINGTON — Conservative bloggers and opinion outlets in recent days have expressed mounting alarm about an executive order by President Obama that extended certain privileges and immunities to the International Criminal Police Organization, better known as Interpol.
Bloggers have accused Mr. Obama of ceding American sovereignty, painting a portrait of an international police force operating on United States soil without legal restraints. They have also argued that the order is part of a plot to allow international courts to arrest and prosecute American officials for war crimes.
That theme is making its way from the blogosphere to more mainstream news outlets.
In a Web post for the conservative National Review last week, the commentator Andrew C. McCarthy declared that an “international police force” could now operate inside the United States “unrestrained by the U.S. Constitution and American law.” He also suggested that the order created in the Justice Department “a repository for stashing government files” beyond the reach of Congress and the public.
And an editorial in The Washington Examiner this week declared that “this new directive from Obama may be the most destructive blow ever struck against American constitutional civil liberties.”
Obama administration and Interpol officials say the fears and accusations are based on ignorance about how Interpol works and about the context and impact of the order, which was issued on Dec. 17 without any statement.
“There is nothing newsworthy here,” said Christina Reynolds, a White House spokeswoman.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
This is not just something that bloggers have "painted", it's the facts.
....international police force operating on United States soil without legal restraints.
There are “restraints” which will crush these facists with extreme predjudice.
Isn’t this something with some elements that go back at least to Richard Nixon?
I believe the way the US government got around the last few decades’ 4th Amendment jurisprudence (and similar rules in other countries) is that it made pacts with other governments: “we’ll spy on your people if you spy on ours.”
The power to do “international arrests” would be something new.
Not going to happen IMHO. Interpol folks can be “adequately” controlled by 190 mullion folks with guns...
Wow - I don’t normally look at NY Times articles but I read this one - when did they become the media arm of the Democrat Party.
They set up a partial straw man and then knock him down with just a few calming words from the WH. Now does everyone feel better.
Just the fact that they felt they needed to print this trash makes me concerned.
Mel
This is foreign occupation. If there are no more checks on Interpol, then nothing stops them from bringing in thousands or tens of thousands.
No legal restraints, to me would mean no legal protection. We do need to cut down on the c02 exaltation don’t we?
“We don’t (currently) send officers into the field to arrest people; we don’t (yet) have agents that go investigate crimes,” said Rachel Billington, an Interpol spokeswoman.
Then they don't really need immunity, now do they?
One step at a time
Tick...Tock...
I just had a dream that America had to convert to speaking and writing everything in French like we we taken over by Canada or possibly agents from France. I am thinking the message is of the type that Canada has blackmailed Obama into turning over America to Canada.
F ‘em
join oathkeepers.org
Foreign police on American soil is EXACTLY THE SAME as foreign troops on American soil. They have NO JURISDICTION here, no matter what the lying stick man in the White House says. They should be treated like any member of an invading army. They have no rights or privileges here and they can be expected to be detained by the citizens of America with prejudice.
Interpol is NOT an elite fighting force, combat brigade or a kick-ass landing force. Interpol is made up of fat bureaucrats who sit behind desks all day pushing papers and surfing the net. They’re well paid and have no intention of getting shot. The idea of going into the American hinterland and taking on crack-shot hunters and combat vets would horrify them.
We have real enemies to watch here in America without creating fat bogeymen from poodle-loving Europe.
Where’s Sarah?
"Contrary to its portrayal in some movies, Interpol has no police force that conducts investigations and makes arrests. Rather, it serves its 188 member countries by working as a clearinghouse for police departments in different nations to share law enforcement information — like files on wanted criminals and terrorists, stolen cars and passports, and notices that a law enforcement agency has issued an arrest warrant for a fugitive.
In the United States, a bureau at the Justice Department staffed by American officials transmits information between law enforcement agencies and Interpol. If a foreign country issues an arrest warrant for a person inside the United States, it is up to the United States government, based on its own laws, to decide whether to apprehend the suspect.
“We don’t send officers into the field to arrest people; we don’t have agents that go investigate crimes,” said Rachel Billington, an Interpol spokeswoman. “This is always done by the national police in the member country under their national laws.”
When public international organizations are operating on United States soil, a law allows the president to grant them certain rights and immunities, just as foreign embassies receive privileges. More than 70 organizations — including the International Committee of the Red Cross, the World Bank and the International Pacific Halibut Commission — receive those rights.
In 1983, President Ronald Reagan extended some rights — including immunity from lawsuits or prosecution for official acts — to Interpol, which was holding its annual meeting in the United States. But Mr. Reagan’s order did not include other standard privileges — like immunity from certain tax requirements and from having its property or records subject to search and seizure — because at the time, Interpol had no permanent office or employees on United States soil.
That changed in 2004, when Interpol opened a liaison office at the United Nations in New York City. The office consists of five staff members, Ms. Billington said, and they have access to law enforcement information submitted by other countries with restrictions on who may receive it. “When the office opened in 2004, we said look, we’d like to have the Interpol staff working in the office in New York afforded the same immunities as other international organizations,” Ms. Billington said. “It’s only for the New York office.”
The State Department recommended approving the request, but the Bush White House did not complete the matter before its term ended, and so it rolled over.
The White House said it put out no statement with Mr. Obama’s order because it viewed the matter as uninteresting.
LaTonya Miller, the spokeswoman for the Justice Department’s Interpol bureau, said the order would have no effect on the bureau. It routinely receives and responds to Freedom of Information Act requests, she said, and will continue to do so."
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