[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 57 (Wednesday, May 4, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E863]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




CALLING ON GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA TO TRANSFER CHARLES GHANKAY TAYLOR TO 
                     SPECIAL COURT FOR SIERRA LEONE

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                               speech of

                             HON. RON PAUL

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Wednesday, May 4, 2005

  Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this 
resolution. The idea that the United States Congress should demand that 
Nigeria deport a former president of Liberia to stand trial in a United 
Nations court in Liberia is absurd!
  I do not object to this legislation because I dispute the charges 
against Charles Taylor. Frankly, as a United States Congressman my 
authority does not extend to deciding whether a foreign leader has 
committed crimes in his own country. The charges may well be true. I 
do, however, dispute our authority as the United States Congress to 
demand that a foreign country transfer a former leader of a third 
country back to that country to stand trial before a United Nations 
kangaroo court.
  As the resolution itself cites, one top U.N. official, Jaques Klein, 
has already pronounced Taylor guilty, stating ``Charles Taylor is a 
psychopath and a killer.'' But the resolution concludes that ``Congress 
urges the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to 
expeditiously transfer Charles Ghankay Taylor, former President of the 
Republic of Liberia, to the jurisdiction of the Special Court for 
Sierra Leone to undergo a fair and open trial. . .'' So it is probably 
safe to guess what kind of ``trial'' this will be--a Soviet-style show 
trial. The United Nations has no business conducting trials for anyone, 
regardless of the individual or the crime. It is the business of 
Liberia and Nigeria to determine the fate of Charles Taylor.
  If we in the United States wish to retain our own Constitutional 
protections, we must be steadfast in rejecting the idea that a one-
world court has jurisdiction over anyone, anywhere, regardless of how 
heinous the accusations. The sovereignty we undermine will eventually 
be our own.

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