U.S. Seeks to
Be Policeman of World Oceans
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The US is seeking to allow its vessels to board countries’ sovereign waters |
SINGAPORE
CITY, August 11 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Hoping to cut off
terrorists weapons routes at sea, the U.S. is seeking to allow its
vessels to board countries’ sovereign waters, a Singaporean daily
newspaper reported Sunday, August 11.
The
Straits Times, said that the current U.S. administration is
negotiating agreements with dozens of nations for new powers to police
the world’s waters.
The
plan - yet to be approved by the Pentagon - envisions giving United
States forces rights to chase and board vessels not only in
international waters but in a nation’s sovereign waters in some
circumstances, the paper said.
“The
idea is to do on the sea what other military efforts have done on
land: Corner terrorists or eliminate the areas in which they can
operate,” it said.
The
paper interviewed four U.S. officials who said that the U.S. plan
builds on the ship interdiction operation which was started largely to
capture Al-Qaeda members fleeing Afghanistan across international
waters.
The
State Department has been seeking this permission in negotiations with
dozens of countries over recent months, officials said, declining to
name the countries, the paper added.
The
idea of now widening the scope of ship interdictions even further is
the largest and latest in a wide effort by a number of government
agencies to get more control over the vast and poorly documented
movement of people and commerce on ships, officials said, said the
paper.
It
added that the U.S. Customs Service has also negotiated permission to
station its inspectors to screen U.S.-bound cargo containers at major
ports in Canada, France, Belgium, Singapore and elsewhere.
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