Ground Rules

In baseball each park has idiosyncrasies which require going over "ground rules" particular to that park before each game so that each team knows what the rules are going into the game. Each state in our Union has laws or rules particular to that state. It is illegal to swear in front of women and children in Michigan and in Pennsylvania a person is not eligible to be governor if they have participated in a duel. Each state has their own set of ground rules and as Americans we are cool with that. Some states for instance may have the death penalty and you may disagree with the death penalty but the law for that state remains the same.

Each country around the world has their own set of laws or "ground rules" but it seems to me that the US wants to extend their laws to other countries as if to say that our laws are better than the laws of the countries that we may be in. It as if someone from Connecticut going to Nevada thinking that gambling must be illegal to them because they are from Connecticut and will be returning to Connecticut.

What got me thinking this was watching The Path to 9/11 last night and in particular the scene where Ramzi Yousef is captured in Pakistan and the US agents are asking him questions, suddenly the Pakistani colonel stops the car and says "Give me an hour alone with him and I'll get you the information you need." We were in Pakistan and Yousef was in Pakistani custody. If their "interrogation" methods were brutal - so be it. We should have played by their ground rules. Instead our law says that we have to play by our "ground rules" no matter where we are in the world.

Having to play by our ground rules no matter where we are in the world puts us at a disadvantage. In a war - being at a disadvantage gets people killed. I say US laws for US soil. If a terrorists want to hide out in countries where torture is par for the course - well they made their bed as far as I'm concerned who are we to say they need Miranda rights on foreign soil?