Obama's Executive Order, INTERPOL and Israel

Obama, who promised transparency, recently signed a little-publicized executive order:

Obama Surrenders U.S. Sovereignty: His INTERPOL Executive Order

At ThreatsWatch.org, Steve Schippert and Clyde Middleton have dug up the bizarre and unsettling issuance of an executive order recently signed by President Barack Obama.Executive Order — Amending Executive Order 12425, signed December 16 and released a day later, grants the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) rights on American soil that place it beyond the reach of our own law enforcement agencies, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Schippert and Middleton note that Obama’s order removes protections placed upon INTERPOL by President Reagan in 1983. Obama’s order gives the group the authority to avoid Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests — which means this foreign law enforcement organization can operate free of an important safeguard against governmental abuse. “Property and assets,” including the organization’s records, cannot be searched or seized. Their physical locations and records are now immune from U.S. legal or investigative authorities.

If the president of the United States has an aboveboard reason for making a foreign law enforcement agency exempt from American laws on American soil, it wasn’t shared by the White House.

Instapunditwrites that this would make it easier for the International Criminal Court to go after "American war criminals". I wonder if it might also make it easier for those bringing lawsuits against Israel officials associated with Operation Cast Lead.

Mark Tapscott makes a note of how Interpol has been viewing Israel lately:

But what if he simply sees it as an innocuous path to the arrest and prosecution of selected political opponents for "crimes against humanity" in, say, Iraq and Afghanistan? The Far Left would get its pound of Bush-Cheney flesh, while leaving minimal blood on Obama's hands and giving his defense and foreign policy critics reason to think twice before speaking candidly against him in the future.

If this seems far-fetched, let me remind you that this is the same Interpol and ICC that took seriously Iran's Oct. 3, 2009, request that 25 top Israeli civilian and military officials be placed on the international "Most Wanted" list because of their actions in Gaza against murderous Palestinian radicals.[emphasis added]

Obama's goal in signing this executive order remains unanswered--as is the question of how far reaching the consequences may be.

Technorati Tag: Obama and INTERPOL.