A Chara - The United States ambassador, Thomas Foley, today (Nov 13th) bemoans the low success rate of extraditions from Ireland to his country and seems at a loss as to why this is.
As America, Iran, North Korea and a few other "rogue nations" are amongst the dwindling number of states still to carry on the barbaric practice of executing their own citizens, perhaps this may have contributed to our reluctance to assist?
As a country which chooses to torture some suspects themselves, while kidnapping others to bring them to countries like Egypt and Syria for more rigorous "interrogation", not to mention illegally detaining on offshore prison camps hundreds of suspects without trial and in contravention of numerous international codes, the US is hardly in any position to describe itself as meeting "exceptionally high standards" in the area of justice.
Six years into the disaster for diplomacy that has been the Bush presidency, this is no time for America to lecture anyone on how to administer the law. - Is mise, le meas,
DAVID CARROLL, Castle Gate, Dublin 2.