Thursday, December 08, 2005
Behave like a successful big power
The Hague is demanding that the US complies at all times with the humanitarian rules of war. As laid down in the Geneva Conventions, these apply to the 'enemy combatants' held without charge at locations such as Guantanamo Bay, Bagram airbase close to the Afghan capital, Kabul, and - if certain reports are correct - various other places across the globe.
Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot has said that Washington is "testing the limits of international law," a comment which was certainly not intended as a compliment, referring to people held in connection with terrorism who currently find themselves in the 'twilight zone' of international law, without legal protection.
See Radio Nederlands
"The Europeans lack of realism is a big problem, but I'm also frustrated with the inability of the United States to behave like a successful big power," said John Kornblum, a former American ambassador to Germany and now director of the investment bank Lazard Frères in Germany.
He added that "the Europeans do have this propensity" to put the worst possible interpretation on American actions, "but unfortunately, we have given credibility to that sort of behavior."
See New York Times and surely Vleep
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