Buchanan on Monroe Doctrine

I couldn’t believe Alan Dershowitz saying “international law may forbid us from physically entering the nunciature. . . .” (“Justice for Noriega Isn’t in the Cards,” Op-Ed Page, Jan. 2). International law? He’s got to be kidding. International law prohibits us from invading another country, too. It forbids us to ransack another country’s embassy. Since when did the United States obey international law?

As a matter of fact, we don’t even obey our own laws. Our Constitution says the right to declare war belongs to Congress, but we let our presidents usurp this power any time they like by simply calling war by another name. Let’s face it, if sending 24,000 troops over another country’s borders, guns blazing, isn’t an act of war, then absolutely nothing is.

Get real, Dershowitz. International law is the last thing that kept us out of the nunciature. Now, fear of worldwide outrage, that’s another matter. It’s too bad Americans aren’t capable of outrage any more. If they were, they might demand their government return to the rule of law.

ANN ALPER

Pacific Palisades