http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle2982640.ece
So basically this is a case of 'might is right'?
I have to say I find the article quite disturbing, not personally, but all the same it's a bit off considering the UK already has an extradition agreement with the US.
'Special Relationship'? hmmm, not half.
As unfair as it sounds I think that if we tried this on with 'kidnapping' a US citizen and taking them to the UK, it would not be long before we brits would hear the sound of bombs falling. Metaphorically or otherwise.
This is not 'america-bashing' before any of you start. I don't believe it is right for any nation to do this, but the simple fact is the US government seems quite comfortable with brushing aside any existing agreements with other nations when it suits them, either regarding foreign policy or civil matters, like bringing 'criminals' to stand trial in the US.
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The American government has for the first time made it clear in a British court that the law applies to anyone, British or otherwise, suspected of a crime by Washington.
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Until now it was commonly assumed that US law permitted kidnapping only in the “extraordinary rendition” of terrorist suspects.
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Legal sources said that under traditional American justice, rendition meant capturing wanted people abroad and bringing them to the United States. The term “extraordinary rendition” was coined in the 1990s for the kidnapping of terror suspects from one foreign country to another for interrogation.
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...if a person was kidnapped by the US authorities in another country and was brought back to face charges in America, no US court could rule that the abduction was illegal and free him: “If you kidnap a person outside the United States and you bring him there, the court has no jurisdiction to refuse — it goes back to bounty hunting days in the 1860s.” Mr Justice Ouseley, a second judge, challenged Jones to be “honest about [his] position”.
Jones replied: “That is United States law.”
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I think this is wholly wrong and would not condone this action by my own country, let alone by one of our closest allies.
What do you guys think, can there be (outside of extreme circumstances) cases where one can say kidnapping of foreign nationals is acceptable behaviour by a nation who regards it own civil law as superseding that of other nations?