Senator Vitter Leads Assault On UN's Sea Treaty
By Cliff Kincaid
October 1, 2007
The media have been pummeling conservative Republican Senator David Vitter of Louisiana for apologizing for sexual indiscretions. But America should be grateful he stayed in the Senate and did not resign in the wake of the media assault. The senator demonstrated on Thursday, during a hearing into the U.N.'s Law of the Sea Treaty, that he is going to continue to do the job he was elected to do. Vitter's performance was so effective that he left State and Defense Department officials either speechless or caught up in embarrassing contradictions about the impact of this international agreement on America's security and sovereignty. It should now be perfectly obvious that Bush Administration officials, in collusion with liberal Senators, are trying to bamboozle the Senate into quickly ratifying a very dangerous pact.
One area of concern is how other nations and international lawyers could use the treaty against the U.S. in a back-door effort to implement the (unratified) global warming treaty, with the result being higher gas prices for the American people and perhaps even energy rationing. The Law of the Sea treaty creates a tribunal and various bodies, including dispute resolution or arbitral panels, to resolve conflicts which may arise. Major parts of the treaty mandate international regulation of U.S. economic and industrial activities on land. Greenhouse gases, for example, could be viewed under the terms of the treaty as contributing to pollution of the oceans.
Negroponte Caught in Falsehood
Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte told the Senate committee that the U.N. body established by the treaty has "no jurisdiction over marine pollution disputes involving land-based sources." He said, "that's just not covered by the treaty." Negroponte's sidekick, State Department Legal Adviser John B. Bellinger III, said, "It clearly does not allow regulation over land-based pollution sources. That would stop at the water's edge." But Vitter shot back, "why is there a section entitled pollution from land-based sources?" Not only is there a section by that name, Vitter pointed out, but there is a section on enforcement. The section is Article 207, "Pollution from land-based sources." Anybody can look it up. But apparently our top officials and lawyers have not. Either that or they are trying to mislead the people about the ramifications of this treaty. In either case, we are sunk if this treaty goes through.
It was absolutely clear to anyone paying attention that Negroponte and Bellinger either had no real understanding of what was in the treaty or didn't want to tell the American people what was really in it. In the end, under withering fire from Vitter, Bellinger insisted that the controversy was too "technical" to discuss at the hearing and that he would submit something in writing. Senator Jim Webb, chairing the hearing, suggested he do so, attempting to save Bellinger from further embarrassment. Our liberal media favoring this treaty will, of course, not bother to point out that one of the top brains in the State Department had been caught in the act of trying to mislead the U.S. Senate.
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