Secretary of State Rice Has A Plan
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is leaving today for a five day trip to Europe to try to calm their outrage over reports of secret CIA prisons in Eastern Europe.
Human rights activists have been putting pressure on European governments to put a stop to the U.S. practice. Unlike in the Bush-era United States, human rights issues are not merely window-dressing and are actually are taken seriously by European Union authorities.
Our Secretary of State has a plan. Rice will try to turn the tables on our European allies. Rather than apologizing or explaining the prisons, she is planning to not even publicly acknowledge their existence.
State Department sources say that Rice will privately stress the benefits of cooperation with the United States in the "war on terror." State is claiming that a number of actual attacks have been prevented by judicious use of secret detention. The Europeans, still smarting after the Madrid and London subway bombings, presumably know better and will call bullshit on Rice.
The administration also wants our European allies to get their publics back in line with the "what America wants is best for all concerned" program.
The administration claims that the U.S. has been obeying all international statutes that we are required to as signatories of various treaties. The international law community interprets things otherwise.
It is doubtful, however, that the United States will be forced here to do anything it sees as "unhelpful" to our national security. We are the big dog on the block. Even though the combined GNP of the European Union is larger than that of the U.S., we are more willing to throw our weight around.
The days when the U.S. commanded respect due to our moral standing in the world are over. Now it takes fear of what we might do, or of what "terrorists" may do, to ensure our traditional allies will do our bidding.
Human rights activists have been putting pressure on European governments to put a stop to the U.S. practice. Unlike in the Bush-era United States, human rights issues are not merely window-dressing and are actually are taken seriously by European Union authorities.
Our Secretary of State has a plan. Rice will try to turn the tables on our European allies. Rather than apologizing or explaining the prisons, she is planning to not even publicly acknowledge their existence.
State Department sources say that Rice will privately stress the benefits of cooperation with the United States in the "war on terror." State is claiming that a number of actual attacks have been prevented by judicious use of secret detention. The Europeans, still smarting after the Madrid and London subway bombings, presumably know better and will call bullshit on Rice.
The administration also wants our European allies to get their publics back in line with the "what America wants is best for all concerned" program.
The administration claims that the U.S. has been obeying all international statutes that we are required to as signatories of various treaties. The international law community interprets things otherwise.
It is doubtful, however, that the United States will be forced here to do anything it sees as "unhelpful" to our national security. We are the big dog on the block. Even though the combined GNP of the European Union is larger than that of the U.S., we are more willing to throw our weight around.
The days when the U.S. commanded respect due to our moral standing in the world are over. Now it takes fear of what we might do, or of what "terrorists" may do, to ensure our traditional allies will do our bidding.
posted by Effwit at 11:03 AM
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