The Obama Administration Gives INTERPOL More Favorable Immunities Than American Law Enforcement Agencies
These secret, nicely hidden assaults on our Constitution are disturbing, at a time when we have seen numerous militant jihadist attacks on Americans. Terrorist attacks have escalated in recent months, and Obama's denial to accept them for what they are is another indication being 'presidential' is above his pay grade.
Voicing our concerns on these constitutional matters to our Republican representatives is one way to keep the pressure on about stopping these assaults and to let them know we are watching -- like never before.
Erick Erickson of RedState writes about the threat this reckless amendment brings [important link by Andy McCarthy]:
The Obama Administration Gives INTERPOL More Favorable Immunities Than American Law Enforcement Agencies
by Erick Erickson, December 29, 2009
Okay, okay. I know a lot of you know about this already.
For about a week I have been getting emails about Barack Obama surrendering American sovereignty to Interpol, the international criminal police force under the UN’s jurisdiction, but I honestly couldn’t believe even Obama would do that.
The people emailing me were, frankly, mostly of the black helicopter crowd variety so I dismissed it is as overhyped.
Then RedState regulars like Kenny Soloman and Veronica Estrada started taking it seriously. I had to pay attention.
Finally, I got an email with several links from a friend saying I needed to say something about this. He wanted to make sure it was on my radar screen.
This is an extremely serious issue.
The best and most reasonable take comes from Andy McCarthy. Let me put this in perspective for you.
American law enforcement agencies at the local, state, and federal level are bound by open records act laws. At the federal level, the Freedom of Information Act applies.
Knowing that an intrepid reporter can, after establishing credible sources, file a judicially enforcible FOIA request to obtain information from a law enforcement agency is one of the chief deterrents to law enforcement agencies from abusing discretionary power.
Additionally, Interpol is a foreign power, but operates out of the U.S. Department of Justice inside the United States. While Interpol has some limited immunities given by Ronald Reagan in the early 1980’s, it does not — or at least did not until last week — have immunity from the 4th Amendment. Consequently, this international agency could, should it abuse its powers, have the federal government seize its assets, etc.
In other words, the international police organization Interpol was treated like every other law enforcement agency in America — it was subject to FOIA requests and could, like any arm of a municipal, county, state, or federal government agency, have its property taken by the federal government if it crossed the boundaries of criminal law protection for the accused.
For no discernible reason whatsoever, last Wednesday when no one was looking, Barack Obama signed an executive order giving all immunities of foreign powers to Interpol.
In other words, Interpol is now in a better position than any American law enforcement institution that operates on American soil. It cannot have its records searched or seized and it is not subject to the restraints of sunshine and transparency that FOIA requests can bring.
At a time when Obama is worried about ensuring the rights of terrorists against the abuses of the American government, he has no problem surrendering American rights to an arm of the United Nations.
This is extremely important because it comports with Barack Obama’s world view in ways harmful to American sovereignty. Obama has said repeatedly that he views no nation as greater than any other nation. He has said repeatedly that one nation should not be able to impose its will on another. He applies this even to the United States.
In Barack Obama’s world, the United States is no better and no worse than Iran, China, North Korea, or Kenya. In his world view, we are all players on an international stage with the United Nations as the leader.
Therefore, while Obama will not give up American sovereignty to Peru, he is perfectly happy to give up sovereignty to the United Nations.
The man is not just an amateur. He is also a damnably naive fool.
This is also a backdoor to the International Criminal Court (”ICC”). The United States chose, before Obama took office, to avoid the ICC. Interpol has become the law enforcement arm of the ICC. By taking away the limits to Interpol’s immunity in the United States, Barack Obama has freed the organization up to conduct criminal investigations of individuals inside the United States on behalf of the ICC without any of us knowing about it.
And who does the ICC want to investigate? The lawyers, CIA operatives, and soldiers who have defended the United States in the War on Terror by setting up GTMO and prosecuting the war. These men and women now have yet another deterrent to keep them from being fully effective — the fear of an international criminal investigation that they don’t even know about.
How many Americans will get killed because of the policies Barack Obama is employing to undermine our safety and security in a dangerous world?
