Would the U.S. kidnap Edward Snowden if HK doesn't extradite?

[cali]

There's precedent:

United States v. Alvarez-Machain, 504 U.S. 655 (1992), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that the fact of respondent's forcible abduction does not prohibit his trial in a United States court for violations of this country's criminal laws. It re-confirmed the Ker-Frisbie Doctrine established in Ker v. Illinois (1886) and Frisbie v. Collins (1952).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humberto_Alvarez_Machain

Would you support it?

[ZombieHorde]

1. I would not support kidnapping Snowden. nt

[Cooley Hurd]

2. Of course...

NOT! (Sorry for the Wayne's World answer )

[cali]

3. In case it's not clear, I completely agree with you.

[Cooley Hurd]

4. I've been nursing my own, disturbing thread regarding an airshow accident, so I apologize

...for the flippant answer I gave. If the US Govt "renders" Snowden, like they've done to so many in the past, I will be... not surprised.

And I will be ANGRY!

[cali]

5. no apology needed.

I'll be angry too.

I suspect that there are people here who would enthusiastically support it, but I doubt they have the guts to admit it.

[Cooley Hurd]

6. Sadly, the Authoritarians on DU would be enthusiastic.

My Julius and Ethel Rosenberg thread a few days ago sank like a stone.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023043804

[MannyGoldstein]

7. No.

We'd only do that from a third-tier country.

[cali]

8. oh, I don't know that they wouldn't do it.

hope you're right that they wouldn't.

[MannyGoldstein]

10. Obama is unable to be truly confrontational

He's a sneak.

Kidnapping would lead to a serious confrontation with people he can't ignore. I don't recall him ever doing that, except when his personal success was on the line.

[Monkie]

11. i think that is why snowden chose china, they have nukes

and are proud people generally speaking.
there are not many countries with nukes and the will to stand up to the US, so i dont really see how the US can bluff its way into kidnapping on chinese's soil without the cooperation of the chinese.

[LuvNewcastle]

16. The U.S. doesn't fuck with China.

He knew what he was doing when he chose to go there.

[leveymg]

9. I foresee really bad things happening if they try.

It isn't done that way, except in small, defenseless countries.

[treestar]

12. The DEA hired a private citizen

But from that case and the Ker-Frisbie doctrine, it does not matter how he is brought before the jurisdiction, so it's possible.

I wonder in 1992 were people concerned and yelling that Clinton betrayed them? Clinton's DEA hired a private citizen to kidnap Alvarez. The SCOTUS held he could still be tried. He was tried and then acquitted.

[Spider Jerusalem]

13. Bush, not Clinton

On April 2, 1990, Álvarez was abducted from Mexico by Trent Tompkins of Claysville, PA, a private citizen hired by DEA agents...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humberto_Alvarez_Machain

And Clinton wasn't president until 20 January 1993.

[treestar]

14. My bad.

I've comglomerated the 90s into "Clinton."

[premium]

15. Hell yeah they would,

after all, the govt kills Americans in other countries, so why wouldn't they kidnap Snowden and bring him back here for trial.
I am totally against kidnapping period, whether foreign citizens or US citizens.

[The Link]

17. Could happen. It would be defended by many as justice if it did.

I would not support it.

[bluedigger]

18. No, violating other nation's sovereignty is not acceptable.

We should work within the bounds of international law to resolve our differences.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

19. That would be pretty difficult

You can't exactly stuff somebody into a small plane at a deserted airstrip in Hong Kong and the general aviation area at HKG is crawling with immigration officers and anyone straying too far from the harbor in a small boat will be stopped by the police or Customs and Excise.