Outside the Beltway

Michele Bachmann Urges President Obama To Violate International Treaty Obligations

Doug Mataconis · Wednesday, September 21, 2011 · 4 comments

It’s General Assembly time again in New York City and, along with the ongoing controversy over the Palestinian statehood bid, that means a return visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahdmedinejad, who never ceases to find something offensive or idiotic to say when he addresses the world body. This year, though, there’s a Presidential election going on and one Presidential candidate wants him barred from the country:

DES MOINES – Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann on Tuesday called on President Obama to block Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from speaking at the United Nations – a violation of long-standing international treaty obligations.

At a campaign appearance here, Bachmann called the Iranian leader an enemy of Israel and said he should be barred from this week’s meeting of the U.N. General Assembly.

“He has proven he is in violation of the United Nations charter and of international law,” Bachmann declared. “Since he is, in the most literal sense, an outlaw, he should not be allowed in the United States of America.”

Iran’s hostility to Israel has caused controversy before. In 2009, some diplomats walked out of Ahmedinejad’s speech to the U.N. because of its virulent anti-Semitism. Bachmann’s forceful declaration may be politically savvy at a time when Republicans are trying to take advantage of some Jewish voters’ apparent disaffection with Mr. Obama’s Middle East policies.

But under the treaty that established world’s international peacekeeping body, what she’s asking would be illegal. The 18-acre site on the east side of Manhattan that is occupied by the United Nations headquarters is international territory. Because of that, the United States is obligated to allow access for leaders of the body’s 193 member nations.

But, what’s a treaty when there are political points to be scored?