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March 11, 2005
Condi's Viennese Waltz
Just when you thought that the second Bush administration would come to its internationalist senses after a Rambo-esque first term (oh wait, you didn't really think that, did you?), Condi Rice confirms that the United States will withdraw from the Vienna protocol. This protocol -- a component of the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations -- was of course originally a U.S. proposal, which makes the irony only sweeter.
Basically, the Vienna Protocol lets the International Court of Justice (not to be confused with the International Criminal Court, which the Bush administration has long opposed) intervene in cases where criminal suspects are denied access to diplomats from their own country when jailed abroad. Naturally, the protocol would be of equal use to Americans abroad in signatory countries as it would to foreign nationals in the United States. Come to think of it, it would be of even greater use to Americans, given our globe-trotting numbers and ample, often unfavorable political reputation abroad.
Does this decision have anything to do with the ICJ's recent ruling against the United States in the case of 51 Mexicans on death row? Of course not, says State Department spokesman Adam Ereli. We'll review the cases in question -- but you better believe we won't be put in this sticky spot by international law ever again.
Posted by Daniel Widome at 11:01 AM to Americas,
