Wrong again
From the Law Library of the US Congress, a rather definitive statement on a subject that we’ve discussed from time to time and that even the New York Times got right:
As former Secretary of State James Baker put it, ever so diplomatically, in the Washington Post: “Many agree with a recent analysis by the international law directorate of the Library of Congress that indicates Zelaya was removed from office by Honduras’s Supreme Court and Congress in accordance with Honduran law. In this view, Zelaya provoked the crisis by trying to replace the constitution in a manner that was unconstitutional…Non-interference in the domestic affairs of a sovereign country is a cardinal principle of the U.N. Charter. In keeping with it, we should defer to the Hondurans’ interpretation of their constitution.”
On the other hand, via Reuters: “Barack Obama said on Monday the coup that ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was illegal and would set a ‘terrible precedent’ of transition by military force unless it was reversed. ‘We believe that the coup was not legal and that President Zelaya remains the president of Honduras, the democratically elected president there,’ Obama told reporters.” Sigh.
Our guess is that the piece by Baker in the WaPo is part of an attempt by the adults in the foreign policy establishment to fashion a way out for Obama from his grievous and completely avoidable unforced error. How embarrassing for the US to be in this position.
October 18th, 2009 at 9:53 am
This is, I think, the most blatant error Obama has made, perhaps excepting the manner in which he weighed in on the charges brought against his Harvard professor buddy. Other things he has fudged on — here he says flat out something that is demonstrably wrong on two counts: it is wrong according to Honduran law and it is wrong for him to weigh in on another country’s internal political matters. I continue to believe Obama is very much out of his depth both domestically and internationally, but he is usually too careful to just make a flat out statement leaving it to others in his administration to lead with their chin. When he does react, his reactions appear to be wrong. How long before the lying media (oops, I mean the traditional media) get the real measure of this guy and begin to call him on the stuff he just doesn’t know? F
October 18th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
If even “little people” like me realized from the start that Obama was wrong …
then I really have to think Obama sees himself as more king and fellow traveler with Chavez, than US president, constrained by rule of law.
Barack surely had several advisers inform him of the problems with his wide third world stance.
October 18th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Bill:
Interesting proposition: that Obama’s advisers have let him down. Perhaps that’s so. (Think if Hillary’s “reset” button, or giving the wrong format videotapes to the British PM). But what does that say about the people he and his staff surround themselves with? I worked for 28 years in foreign affairs and I can’t tell you how careful we were to get things right. And when we had a high level delegation, including presidential, we were 5 times more careful to get it right. I just cannot understanding mistranslating “reset” or letting the president opine on Honduran internal affairs. This is a whole new world. F
October 18th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
obama didn’t make an error.
he knew what he was doing: favoring a collectivist usurper over democracy.
typical for all leftists.
birds of a feather.
October 19th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
The following is a quote taken from a WSJ article by Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) after a recent visit to Honduras: \”When I asked Ambassador Llorens why the U.S. government insists on labeling what appears to the entire country to be the constitutional removal of Mr. Zelaya a \”coup,\” he urged me to read the legal opinion drafted by the State Department\’s top lawyer, Harold Koh. As it happens, I have asked to see Mr. Koh\’s report before and since my trip, but all requests to publicly disclose it have been denied.\” A quick google search shows that Koh is not a career Foreign Service Officer, but was nominated for this post by Obama and confirmed by the Senate. Now what is Koh\’s claim to fame? As the Dean of Yale Law School he was a prominent champion of \”transnationaism\” which, I gather, means that some amorphous thing called consensus international law (domestic judicial decision making based on the intellectual and ideological biases of the global elite) is the default position where there is any conflict between international and domestic law. Apparently then, per Koh\’s CIL prejudices, a domestic constitutional system in Honduras does not, repeat not, have any standing to decide if and when the legitimately elected Honduran executive who represents his country in international fora (this may be the key to understanding why transnationalism applies in this case) has exceeded his authority and is subject to removal.
October 20th, 2009 at 6:36 am
Sending his #1 and 2 out to attack FoxNews is somewhat Hugo-esqe.