US Overreaction: State Department (Foreign Office) Rebuts Senator Cantwell’s Claims


If Senator Cantwell or her staff come by looking for something to convince them fast please read this.

The same people who set the hapless John Q Kelly up (he has never been heard from again since that post) seem to have set Senator Cantwell up too.

Now Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports that her precipitate involvement in the case seems to be hitting a brick wall.

WASHINGTON, USA - The US government said Monday it had no signs that a court in Italy failed to follow the country’s laws when it found American Amanda Knox guilty of the murder of her British housemate.

However, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will discuss the verdict with Senator Maria Cantwell, who said it raises ‘serious questions’ about the Italian justice system, Clinton’s spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters.

‘I don’t have any indications to the contrary,’ Kelly said when asked if Knox was treated fairly under Italian law. ‘We haven’t received any indications necessarily that Italian law was not followed.’

He added: ‘I do know that our embassy in Rome was very closely involved in this. They visited Amanda Knox. They have monitored the trial.’

Kelly said he preferred to limit comment as the legal process continues, recalling that Knox has the right to appeal in 45 days.

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Comments

I think the media are latching onto this because it makes a hot story - they want to continue the story and this is a new twist. Hilary is not really involved as they say - she is looking into it to see if she should be.

I think Hilary was being diplomatic when she said she would look into it. After getting the facts from her staff she will likely say that she looked into it and found nothing amiss. It may also be that she doesn’t want to get involved and to refuse outright might not be smart as patriotic Americans might become inflamed by this. As a politician she has learned to say no without saying no. Ultimately I think she will not get involved.

I spent a lot of the weekend reading articles and commenting. I was happy to find many that many Americans posting comments believe that Amanda is guilty and that Hilary and America should stay out of this, because they don’t want other countries telling the US what to do, and also because Hilary has much more pressing issues on her plate like Afghanistan. It seems not all Americans buy the media spin fed to them.

Posted by Vedantist on 12/08/09 at 04:30 AM | #

Hi Vedantist. Fully agree that this is probably how things will turn out. Hillary will be busy doing nothing.

This key post by Commisario Montalbano points out that even prime Minister Berliusconi himself is being tied in knots by the judiciary.

And Meredith’s case has passed through the hands of a total of 19 judges so far, with another judge to come on the appeal.

So. Even if Hillary decides to make that call… who, precisely, does she call?

Posted by Peter Quennell on 12/08/09 at 05:31 AM | #

Hi, all. To me, as I’m sure it’s true to so many of us now, the world is looking brighter here, back on the other side of the Looking Glass. (Perhaps now amanda will take a bite from the other side of the mushroom, and shrink to microscopic size.)

A few minutes ago, I exercised my status as a registered Washington State voter, and e-mailed Sen. Cantwell, urging caution and further investigation into the actual history of Meredith’s murder (aka, Amanda Knox’s Trial) before succumbing to the drunken ride of the FOA PR convoy (not the language I used, in fact, I was so polite, restrained and grown-up, I allow myself a congratulatory chocolate bar).

I hope that my fellow, informed Washingtonians are also chiming in to counter the disgustingly dizzying spin. West Seattle was abuzz, at least on Friday, with expressions of varying degrees of shock and surprise over the verdict, though I, at least, overheard nothing I would term “outrage”. But, of course, I live in Delridge, not in Arbor Heights.

Sen. Clinton has much bigger fish to fry, and, I trust, the requisite good sense not to cook this up into a “freedom fries” fiasco!

Rest in peace, Sweet Meredith.

Posted by mimi on 12/08/09 at 06:09 AM | #

I passed on this link to a mutual friend of Senator Cantwell. Eventually, if she has the time to come here and read I’m sure she will be enlightened.

Posted by bedelia on 12/08/09 at 07:47 AM | #

At last some objective reporting from reuters:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5B707720091208State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said on Monday the United States had no reason to believe justice had been mishandled.

Clinton said the United States would continue to extend consular support to Knox through her appeal as per normal procedure. “Our consular affairs personnel have been in regular contact with her and with her family,” she said.

The US provides this support to any American undergoing trial in a foreign country”.

Smart move to say they will help, by giving the standard help. They are seen to be helping which is good PR without actually intervening. Nice work Hilary!

Posted by Vedantist on 12/08/09 at 04:04 PM | #

Another seriously silly rant from Steve Moore which explains why the few people in Washington DC officialdom who have ever heard of him seem to despise him - note that State does NOT get involved in drug related crimes and makes that quite clear; and they certainly don’t consider that Knox was railroaded, they were in the court and saw no Moore.

http://mynorthwest.com/?nid=11&sid=513582

Moore is not only convinced that there is no evidence, but that the charges against Puracal have been entirely manufactured by the Nicaraguan police. He’s also convinced that the U.S. State Department has done absolutely nothing to help.

“What they could do is start living up to their responsibilities to American citizens overseas,” he said. “I have been just astounded in the last couple of years at what the State Department is not doing for Americans who are in trouble overseas.”

One of those Americans, he said, is Amanda Knox. He spoke out on behalf of the Washington state student, who was convicted in 2009 of killing her British roommate, Meredith Kercher, in Italy.

“With the Amanda Knox case they hung her out to dry. They did absolutely zero to help an American who was being railroaded,” Moore said of the State Department. “In this case, I can’t find a single thing that they’re doing. I would be surprised if Hillary Clinton even knew the name Jason Puracal.”

Posted by Peter Quennell on 07/15/11 at 03:34 PM | #

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