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Navy Given Right to Search Liberian Ships
U.S. Navy forces may board thousands of commercial ships in international waters to search for weapons of mass destruction under a landmark deal signed this week between the United States and Liberia, the worldâs No. 2 shipping registry. Gee, you donât suppose this has anything to do with our little visit to Liberia last year, do you? The accord comes amid persistent fears that terror networks would use ships for attacks, and effectively hands oversight of vessels under the Liberian flag to the U.S. military, industry analysts say. Bwahahaha! "The boarding agreement provides authority on a bilateral basis to board sea vessels suspected of carrying illicit shipments of weapons of mass destruction, their delivery systems or related materials," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said in Washington. Boucher said the deal, signed Wednesday, is modeled on similar accords in counter-narcotics work. Now no one can say we are violating international law when we board Liberian ships on the high seas. Liberia, which is emerging from nearly 15 years of civil war, has hosted a U.S.-based shipping registry since 1949. It now ranks second to Panama in total shipping tonnage in U.S. ports, under so-called "flags of convenience." Liberia says more than 2,000 vessels worldwide are registered under its flag. One-third of imported oil arrives on Liberian-flagged tankers. Now we can search them far away from our ports before they deliver any surprises, excellent! Posted by: Steve 2004-02-13 |
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