US Has Two Sets of Laws, One for Themselves One for Others
Arun Kumar | IANS
Dec 22, 2013
[Uncle Sam has gone to save the skin of its diplomats and non-diplomats alike accused of exploiting their domestic help, or even rape, murder and worse.]
India-born US prosecutor Preet Bharara has thrown the book at an Indian diplomat over alleged visa fraud in the name of equality before law, "no matter how powerful, rich or connected they are."
Contrast this with the lengths Uncle Sam has gone to save the skin of its diplomats and non-diplomats alike accused of exploiting their domestic help, or even rape, murder and worse.
Pakistan's former ambassador to the US, Husain Haqqani, has recalled "a similar but much worse row in January 2011" when a CIA contractor Raymond Davis killed two men in a crowded street in Lahore.
The US claimed that Davis carried a diplomatic passport, but Pakistan's Foreign Office found that Davis' name had been included on the list of diplomats serving in Pakistan only after he had committed the murders, he noted in an article in The Beast.
But once his real identity was revealed "The Pakistani government avoided embarrassing President (Barack) Obama, who had been misled into publicly insisting on Davis' diplomatic status," Haqqani wrote.
Eventually, Davis was set free by a Pakistani court after his lawyers reached a financial settlement with the victims' families under Pakistan's Islamic 'blood money' law, he recalled and US conveyed America's regret over the loss of life caused by Davis.
Peter Van Buren, who blew the whistle on the State Department waste and mismanagement during Iraqi reconstruction in his first book, "We Meant Well", has in his blog lifted the lid on the cases of several other US diplomats who have gone scot free after various crimes.
"Not paying a fair wage is wrong," he wrote commenting on the Khobragade case, but "What is also wrong is for the State Department to be following a double-standard in what it expects from foreign diplomats, and what it expects from its own."
Citing court documents, he mentions the case of US diplomat Linda Howard and her husband accused of raping and enslaving an Ethiopian woman tricked into accompanying them as their domestic servant to Japan, and forced to work for less than $1 per hour.
A Virginia federal judge awarded the victim $3.3 million in damages on a default judgment against the couple. But the diplomat retired from the State Department with full pension and then fled the country.
Earlier this year in Kenya, an American diplomat who police say was speeding, crossed the centre line in his SUV and rammed into a full mini-bus, killing a father of three whose widow is six months pregnant.
The embassy, according to Van Buren, then rushed the American and his family out of Kenya the next day,leaving the crash victims with no financial assistance to pay for a funeral and for hospital bills for the eight or so others who were seriously injured.
[ COMMENT : Please read the full report below !! ]
In another case of abuse and visa fraud, Harold Countryman, a US diplomat assigned to Seoul, South Korea, along with his spouse Kimberly, brought a Cambodian woman to work for them in the US with a falsified US visa application.
On being caught, the couple pleaded guilty to visa fraud, and are paying the Cambodian woman $50,000 in restitution, Van Buren said. Harold Countryman, the diplomat, only received probation, however.
In another case, Kerry Howard, the community-liaison officer at the US Consulate in Naples, claims she was bullied, harassed and forced to resign after complainingabout the consul general's Donald Moore's alleged office trysts with subordinates and hookers. One subordinate was allegedly forced to have an abortion.
In yet another case of sexual assault, Chuck Lisenbee, a former State Department Beirut security officer who was being probed for allegedly sexually assaulting local guards, is now a special agent in Washington for the Office of Diplomatic Vehicles, Enforcement and Outreach, Van Buren said, citing a State Department phone directory.
Former US Ambassador to Belgium Howard Gutman,accused of soliciting "sexual favours from both prostitutes and minor children" was also allowed to retire in July of this year, Van Buren claimed.
Back in 1993, one Tokyo embassy US diplomat identified as Thurmond Borden, brought a Filipino woman, 40 year-old Lucia Martel to work as a domestic contracting to pay her a monthly salary of $1500 but was forced to work for 18 hours a day.
Lucia eventually tried to sue the Bordens, and organized protest marches outside the US embassy. The State Department, however, claimed diplomatic immunity on Borden's behalf and the Japanese legal system dropped the case.
According to Van Buren, State Department records list Borden now as the head of the Consular Section in Jakarta where, among other tasks, he has the responsibility for issuing maid visas to US diplomats' domestic help bound for the US.
Copyright © 2012 The New Indian Express. All rights reserved.
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U.S. diplomat flees Kenya after killing man whose wife was pregnant in car crash
- Joshua Walde, an American diplomat stationed in Kenya, who was allegedly speeding, crashed his SUV into a full mini-bus, killing one and injuring eight more
- Walde and his family were rushed out of the country the next day by U.S. Embassy officials
- The crash victims were left destitute without any financial assistance to help pay their hospital bills
- The Kenyan man killed in the crash leaves behind a pregnant widow and three children
- Walde may not being held accountable for the accident due to his diplomatic immunity
4 August 2013
An American diplomat who police say was speeding, crossed the center line in his SUV and rammed into a full mini-bus, killing a father of three whose widow is six months pregnant, officials said Friday.
U.S. Embassy officials in Nairobi rushed Joshua Walde and his family out of Kenya the next day, leaving the crash victims with no financial assistance to pay for a funeral and for hospital bills for the eight or so others who were seriously injured.
Amongst those killed was Haji Lukindo, who leaves behind his pregnant wife Latifah Naiman Mariki, 38, without a source of income to support her family.
Latifah Naiman Mariki, the pregnant widow of a man killed in a car accident by an American diplomat that has since fled the country, poses outside of her home in Nairobi, Kenya with two of her children
Mariki, was almost evicted from her house this week after her landlord demanded rent. Mariki's deceased husband, Haji Lukindo, was the family's only source of income.
She told The Associated Press that neither the American driver nor anyone at the US Embassy has contacted her, and she doesn't know how she will provide for her soon-to-be-born child and three children, ages 20, 10 and 7.
'It is difficult for me to handle this matter because my kids need to go to school. They need everything, basic needs,' Mariki said. 'And we have no place to stay because we have to pay the rent. We have no money. ... Even if my kids are sick I have no money to take them to hospital.'
Naiman (second from the right) sits with her children in the home she can no longer afford after her husband was killed by American diplomat Joshua Walde's speeding SUV
Hilary Renner, a State Department spokeswoman in Washington, said the embassy extends its deepest condolences to Mariki's family and wishes a speedy recovery to those injured.
She said she couldn't comment on whether the embassy employee would return to Kenya.
'The embassy is fully cooperating with the Kenyan authorities as they investigate the accident and work to aid the victims,' she said.
Walde, was an information management officer at the Nairobi embassy when he got in the crash on his way home the evening of July 11. He gave a statement to police but because he has diplomatic immunity he was not detained.
Latifah Naiman's (pictured here) friends and neighbors are petitioning for financial aid and accountability from Walde after he was allowed to leave the country following the crash
A police dossier on the case shown briefly to an Associated Press reporter contained sketches of how police believe the accident happened. The sketch shows the American's SUV turning at a rounded four-way intersection on the edge of Nairobi and driving into the lane of oncoming traffic.
A police officer familiar with the case who insisted he not be identified by name because he is not an official spokesman said of Walde,' He was driving very fast.'
Pictures in the dossier show that the SUV hit the front corner and side of the mini-bus, smashing in its frame. Kenyan mini-buses, known as matatus, also frequently drive fast and erratically.
Joshua Walde was working as a information management officer in Nairobi, Kenya when he crashed his speeding SUV into a full mini-bus killing one and injuring eight more
A Facebook group of Kenyan mothers took up Mariki's case this week and are trying to raise funds for her. In dozens of comments online, many demanded accountability and expressed dismay that no financial help has been given.
'She's such a decent and honest lady you feel so bad for her. She wasn't employed,' Zahra Ashif, who started the Facebook thread, told AP. 'The point is that [Walde] is not here so he can't be arrested, but after that point did he not have any courtesy to get in touch? ... For them life has gone on, but what about these kids?'
Walde is an 11-year employee of the State Department who has worked in Kazakhstan, Uruguay and Croatia. Shortly after the crash, Walde updated his work history on the networking site LinkedIn to put his time in Nairobi in the past tense, from July 2012 to July 2013.
Latifah Naiman (second from right) sits with her three children and is pregnant with a fourth. Her husband was killed in a crash by an American diplomat who fled the country
After the Facebook group noticed the updated resume and pointed to that as evidence that Walde would not return to face charges or help victims, the LinkedIn account was deleted, though a cached version is still available through Google.
Walde's wife circulated an email to sell a family vehicle and try to find new work locations for the family's nanny and gardener after the crash.
AP sent an email to Walde's wife on Thursday asking if the family wanted to comment. No response was received.
The U.S. government is concerned about the impact the accident could have on bilateral relations with Kenya, a U.S. government official said. The official noted that embassy employees are typically evacuated for medical evaluations after traumatic events but are also flown out of a country to avoid any possible retribution or attack from others involved in an accident.
The crash that killed Latifah Naiman's (right) husband happened when Joshua Walde's SUV allegedly swerved into a lane of oncoming traffic at a four-way intersection
The police say the case remains under investigation. The Nairobi traffic police chief, Patrick Lumumba, said he is seeking assistance from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to liaise with the U.S. Embassy. He said authorities didn't detain Walde because, 'we don't take diplomats into custody.'
A police spokeswoman, Ziporah Mboroki, said no charges had been filed against Walde the last time she checked.
'He is a diplomat and has the privileges of a diplomat. If you're a diplomat and you commit any crime in Kenya, the case is investigated and is forwarded to your embassy,' she said. 'That's what the law says and we work per the law.'
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