US says it has right to kidnap British citizens

[Rajiv]

US says it has right to kidnap British citizens

AMERICA has told Britain that it can “kidnap” British citizens if they are wanted for crimes in the United States.

A senior lawyer for the American government has told the Court of Appeal in London that kidnapping foreign citizens is permissible under American law because the US Supreme Court has sanctioned it.

The admission will alarm the British business community after the case of the so-called NatWest Three, bankers who were extradited to America on fraud charges. More than a dozen other British executives, including senior managers at British Airways and BAE Systems, are under investigation by the US authorities and could face criminal charges in America.

Until now it was commonly assumed that US law permitted kidnapping only in the “extraordinary rendition” of terrorist suspects.

[Guest]

Re: US says it has right to kidnap British citizens

Rajiv -

I see you are chipping away methodically at my thesis that we are not a police state yet. This is indeed pretty worrisome in it's implications. When you see the US adopt this kind of draconian approach with it's closest ally Britain, we've come a long way.

You know, I am always perfectly prepared to eat my hat on any position if I'm wrong (metaphorically speaking that is - I think I would object to actually having to eat a hat, although perhaps a straw Panama would be the least unpalatable).

[Rajiv]

Re: US says it has right to kidnap British citizens

Lukester,

It gives me no satisfaction or pleasure to have you "eat your hat." It is a sad state of affairs that we are in -- and unfortunately, we appear to be on a slippery slope down. I fear it is a case of giving an inch, and a mile being taken away.