By Bill Wilson
“There is nothing newsworthy here.”
Believe it or not, this was the only comment offered by Barack Obama’s White House after it shredded the U.S. Constitution (again) by removing Reagan era restrictions on the domestic powers of the International Criminal Police Organization, or Interpol.
“Nothing newsworthy here?”
Obama unilaterally elevated a global police force above all other law enforcement agencies in America – removing Constitutional limitations and granting it powers and protections not bestowed upon any U.S. law enforcement agency, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
That’s not “newsworthy?”
Obviously, Obama was hoping it wouldn’t be.
That’s no doubt why he issued this executive order a week before Christmas, while most Americans were focused on finishing their last-minute holiday shopping – and while most politicos were focused on a looming U.S. Senate vote on his socialized medicine proposals. It’s also probably why Obama issued the order with such a generic title – “Amending Executive Order 12425” – and without a single word by way of explanation.
Here’s what the order said:
“By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 1 of the International Organizations Immunities Act (22 U.S.C. 288), and in order to extend the appropriate privileges, exemptions, and immunities to the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), it is hereby ordered that Executive Order 12425 of June 16, 1983, as amended, is further amended by deleting from the first sentence the words “except those provided by Section 2(c), Section 3, Section 4, Section 5, and Section 6 of that Act” and the semicolon that immediately precedes them.”
What this means is that Interpol’s property and assets in the United States are no longer subject to search and seizure, and that its documents are no longer available for public scrutiny through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
In other words, Interpol is now above the law – no longer bound by any of the Constitutional safeguards that have remained in place all these years to protect American citizens from the unlawful usurpation of their rights and freedoms.
In keeping with the arrogance of this administration and its contempt for those who stand up against such unconstitutional and tyrannical overreaching, Obama and Interpol officials moved quickly to deride those who dared to question this order – saying they were motivated by fear and ignorance of how Interpol operates.
They also presented a benign rationale for Obama’s decision, claiming that a five-person Interpol liaison office in New York (which opened in 2004) needed the same immunities granted to other international organizations.
“It’s only for the New York office,” an Interpol spokeswoman told The New York Times on December 30, obviously attempting to deflect attention away from the fact that Interpol also has an office located inside Obama’s Justice Department complex in Washington, D.C.
Let’s examine the ridiculousness of this cover story for a moment.
First of all, those “other international organizations” aren’t police forces. Nor do they work directly with the International Criminal Court – another global authority whose influence Obama wants to elevate at the expense of American rights and liberties.
Second, does anyone really believe that Obama would overturn a quarter century of established U.S. policy – to say nothing of the U.S. Constitution – to appease five global law enforcement bureaucrats?
And if that was the real reason, why all the secrecy?
Consider this: Under the provisions of Obama’s Interpol order, the government could create a repository of law enforcement files that no American – and no American Congressman, for that matter – would ever be able to access. And no investigation into that agency’s activities could ever be launched because its police force now has total immunity.
According to the Times article, “the White House said it put out no statement with (Obama)’s order because it viewed the matter as uninteresting.”
“Uninteresting?” Not “newsworthy?”
Not on your life.
This executive order clearly has nothing to do with the “New York office” of Interpol – and everything to do with Obama’s ongoing assault on American sovereignty and the individual liberties of our citizens.
Bill Wilson, the president of Americans for Limited Government, is a Liberty Features Syndicated writer.
