Seems
that Hallel
Yaffa Ariel, the Israeli girl killed by a terrorist as she slept in her
bed, was an American citizen. From the
State Department, we get the usual mawkish half-hearted condolences. President Jimmy Carter set the tone back
in 1979, when some Iranian terrorists took the staff of the U.S. Embassy in
Teheran hostage and Carter allowed the situation to continue, literally until the last day of his term in office.
Once
upon a time, there was an international perception that America would protect
its citizens abroad. In 1904, President
Teddy Roosevelt had the State Department send the famous "Perdicaris
alive or Raisuli dead" telegram to secure the release of Ion
Perdicaris, an American (or, as it turned out, a former
American) held hostage in Tangier.
[Never mind that Raisuli's political demands were met; at least
Roosevelt sent in the Marines.].
Genghis
Khan had no
patience for those who harassed his subjects. And in 1850, the Don Pacifico affair
boosted the political career of Henry John Temple, the Viscount Palmerston, who
would become British Prime Minister five years later. As Palmerston noted in his speech to
Parliament, in the days of the Roman Empire a Roman citizen's declaration of
his status as such ("Civis Romanus sum") would bring various
privileges and protections not only from the Roman governmental authorities,
but from the governments of other nations as well.
This
questionable ability and resolve of the State Department (which, you will recall,
utterly failed to protect its own Ambassador in Benghazi) is not sitting well
with the American expatriate community here.
Labels: American citizenship, Protection
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