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USA Extradition Problem
Having an Extradition Treaty with the USA is a bad idea, as it is often a source of abuse
The original principle of extradition (before it got corrupted and monopolised) was quite reasonable. Criminals from one country could not escape to another country and would be deported to stand trial. Countries had mutual "Extradition Treaties", so that criminals hiding in one country would be handed over, and in return the other country would hand over criminals hiding there. Of course any extradition would require a country put up a proper case for the extradition.
However, what's happened now (2012) is that there is widespread misuse of extradition.
Firstly, the cases should be proven in court in a non-political way, and be genuine matters of criminality. This is no longer done, and effectively really stupid excuses are put up as reasons for extradition.
Secondly, extradition should be a mutual, both ways, arrangement. This is no longer the case, and these days it is almost always the United States aiming to grab people from around the world.
The alleged crimes have to be serious enough, and matters of criminality. Political cases shouldn't count, and neither should trivial matters, civil liability cases, etc.
Also, there should be some guarantee of a Fair Trial. With the USA and its one-way people-grabbing trumped-up extradition cases, people are extradited and tortured, locked away in a concentration camp, and moved around the world to other places to be tortured and punished in various ways which, if Nazi Germany were doing it, would be serious matters for the Nuremberg Trials.
This has got to stop. For one thing, it's not fair to the people being tortured. Also, it undermines the sovereignty of the other countries. In effect it is US law being applied globally. There's only one other power than expects its law to be applied globally, and that's the Sharia Law of fanatical islamists. We the people of The World, do not want US Law, nor Sharia Law, applying to us. We live in The Rest Of The World to be free of the USA and free from the horrors of appalling regimes such as Saudi Arabia.
What's to be done about it?: Countries which would like to have their own Sovereignty, should stop the USA being able to have people extradited there. For example, Britain, could just SAY NO and refuse to hand people over to be mistreated in the USA. It's not as if the USA reciprocates and extradites people to the UK.
Well, you might, say, we can't say no to the USA, or they would Nuke us! Oh, would they? I don't think they would nuke any other country that had nuclear weapons with the launch facilities to take revenge. The potential risk of Mutually Assured Destruction still works even though there's no USSR anymore. The United States is unlikely to nuke Britain, because the people have too much in common. France is more at risk but even then, it is not particularly likely that the USA would nuke France, and if that happened, France would probably be able to hit back. Even for other countries, those with a nuclear revenge capability and those without, could most likely say NO to having people extradited from those countries, and they would survive with little more than a bit of trade sanctions and silly tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions.
Also, citizens of the United States could protest against their country's international misbehaviour. Extraditing foreigners to be mistreated at US taxpayers' expense is not a good use of money, and it doesn't help the economy, having the world's largest jail population. Those jail places are paid for out of tax!
Extraditing people for dodgy reasons makes the country look bad. For example, Julian Assange and www.wikileaks.ch , it may seem a gut-feeling response to have a childish desire to take revenge on the character for revealing all those atrocities, but the actions of Julian Assange are also referred to as Free Speech. It doesn't make the USA look good to make up fake legal cases and to try to get him extradited to the USA. It's a bit like deciding to nail someone to a cross. It sometimes doesn't get them forgotten! History tells of this sort of thing, and generally the tyrannies don't win by it.
Another thing about USA extradition is it makes everyone in the world potentially under threat. People under threat don't do what you want. It gets like dissidents in the old Soviet Union plotting against their oppressors, except this would be on a global scale.
Here are a few links about the USA Extradition Problem, some of them highlighting specific cases...
www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/02/24
www.guardian.co.uk/law/2012/jan/13/piracy-student-loses-us-extradition
www.friends-extradited.org/citizens/gary_mckinnon and www.friends-extradited.org
http://fpc.org.uk/articles/508 - rethink UK-US extradition treaty
www.panamalaw.org/USA_and_extradition_treaties.html
www.3news.co.nz/US-will-struggle-to-extradite-Kim-Dotcom/tabid/423/articleID/242681/Default.aspx
www.unafei.or.jp/english/pdf/PDF_rms/no57/57-07.pdf
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1508019
www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/human-rights/justice/extradition/index.php
It's time to cease having extradition treaties with the USA. In the 1930s, many countries stopped having extradition treaties with Germany.
Also see: Domains are not US Territory , Avoid Transit of USA , Liberty and Human Rights , anti-terrorist nonsense , etc.