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[Thomas Beckett <thomas AT tbeckett.com>]

David Minton wrote:
> Very good then. If, by coincidence, an Afghani court produces sufficient
> evidence to support a case of conspiracy against you, Thomas Beckett, you
> are prepared to stand before their court, even though you have never set
> foot in that country. Are you prepared to face their legal system? Whatever
> evidence they have does not need to meet your standards, since it is their
> laws you are on trial for breaking. Your innocence may not even be a factor
> in the conviction.

        Well, there are international legal standards and extradition treaties
and the like which would protect me.  And also, I haven't murdered
anyone, or conspired to, in Afghanistan or elsewhere.  (That's a pretty
universal no-no.)  So I'm not worried about Afghanistan.  (Unless they
were able to send a commando squad to abduct me, in which case I'd be
pretty much fucked, wouldn't I?)  

> Sounds strange, but remember, there are Americans in jail in Afghanistan
> today facing charges pertaining to distributing Christian literature. I
> believe this is a capital crime in that country (at least I believe it is if
> an Afghani is convicted, I am not sure about the Americans).

        Those Americans did go to Afghanistan and were arrested on Afghan
territory.  It is a risk they took.  There are cultural faux pas and
there is knowlingly violating the ground rules in a foreign country.  I
don't know what those missionaries did or not in Afghanistan.  But, as
missionaries, they knew the risks when they went there.

> My point is just it seems strange to enforce the laws of one culture on
> another. We have been talking about laws, as if they are absolute, and not
> relative. We can talk about International law, but the concept is somewhat
> artificial. In some ways, it is no more just than military force.

        Well, that American serviceman accused of raping an Okinawan girl is
standing trial under Japanese law.  It isn't that unusual.  Some crimes
are pretty universal.  We're not talking about enforcing arcane cultural
rules against citizens of another country.  We're talking about mass
murder planned abroad.  

        And one of our arcane cultural rules -- the death penalty -- actually
puts us more in common with Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and
so forth, than with the other G7 nations.  Incidentally.  

TaB