Trent Franks Quotes
Every U.S. citizen should have the assurance that the U.S. government will come vigorously to their defense in a time of need, especially when they are unjustly tried in a foreign country.
United States, Congress, House. Representative Trent Franks speaking on Saeed Abedini. Congressional Record, U.S. Government Publishing Office, 2015.
The United States Senate must ratify all treaties before they can become effective. The Senate has been very reluctant to ratify treaties where the U. S. government or any of its citizens could come under the jurisdiction of any legal entity which did not abide by all the rights citizens are guaranteed by the U. S. Constitution. As a result, we do not recognize the World Court and the Treaty of Rome for example. The latter is the one that gives the World Court jurisdiction over a high level official who commits war crimes even in his own country. The result is that many dictators who do not want to be constrained by international law, do not sign the treaty fending off any pressure to do so by pointing to the United States. But Rothkopf and others who agree with him have not yet been able to come up with a mechanism that will assure American Constitutional rights to Americans who might be involved with the World Court and allow the court to punish the dictators who abuse their own population. The French would like their laws and constitution to control. The Russians, theirs. The Chinese, theirs. Every American public official takes an oath to defend The Constitution. That is their primary duty. Foreign policy and punishing international war criminals must take a lower priority.
The minister had refused to be pressured by the George W. Bush Administration to sign an agreement with the US agreeing never to turn over an American or a foreign national working for America to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Even if a Peruvian or other non-American were working for an American Agency as an informant, agent, or other role, the country could not respect the treaty obligations that they had already made with regard to the ICC. Peru was “punished” losing $4 million aid. Nations were so “punished” while the State Department was spending huge sums to remedy negative opinion that so many nations had developed for the US during the George W. Bush administration. See {585493},65901 & {585496}, for more quotations on this. The US did not join the ICC Treaty as in some countries political considerations and different ethical values have labeled some American legitimate behavior as criminal and have attempted to hold individuals responsible for carrying out lawful orders. So many foreigners could understand the United States not wanting to deny Americans and others in the United States the protection of the United States Constitution, there was ire at the US pressuring others to boycott the ICC and break their existing treaties.
The Saudi’s were covering up the identity of assassins
A problem often exists when a citizen of one country is in another and is accused of wrongdoing. In many cases the local country’s laws. Constitutional guarantees, and corrupt or incompetent judiciary are of a very low standard. How active should a nation be in protecting its citizens in foreign countries to be sure that they are treated fairly and with justice. This is a matter of foreign policy and at the time, some British politicians wanted the government to avoid interfering in individual cases as the consequences were often bad relations and occasionally war to protect citizens. Temple would have none of it, and the last sentence of this quotation is his famous statement of the role of England towards their citizens wherever they might be. This problem only exists for powerful nations as weak ones are in no position to protect their citizens abroad. The United States has never been as strong as Ancient Rome or England in the protection of its citizens abroad, but has not been entirely disinterested either. It depends on the facts of the individual case, the foreign policy situation with the country involved and the particular government in power.
In the early days of the Civil War slaves who escaped and reached the Northern lines were routinely returned to their Southern owners as the Fugitive Slave Act required. The first actual emancipation of the Civil war was not the President’s proclamation but was Butler who as a Union General ordered that the slaves escaping from Virginia no longer be returned. He was accused of violating the then existing law, however he had a legal rationale which hoisted Virginia on its own petard.
Trent Franks is a former American politician and businessman who served as the U.S. Representative for Arizona's 8th congressional district from 2003 to 2017 (numbered as the 2nd district from 2003 to 2013). He is a member of the Republican Party. Congressman Franks served on the Judiciary and Armed Services Committees and was Vice Chairman of the Strategic (Nuclear) Forces Subcommittee, and Chairman of the House Subcommittee on the U.S. Constitution.
