I applied and had been issued my first DIPLOMATIC passport this week. For some reason, every time I think about it, I remember the scene at the end of Lethal Weapon 2, in which the official from the apartheid-era South African Consulate in L.A. claims diplomatic immunity after shooting Riggs (Mel Gibson), and is subsequently shot by Murtaugh (Danny Glover)?
Scene goes like this:
[Rudd shoots Riggs, then holds his ID in front of his face]
Ambassador Arjen 'Aryan' Rudd: Diplomatic immunity!
[Murtaugh shoots him through the ID/head]
Roger Murtaugh: It’s just been revoked!
Here’s the lesson that guy should have learned first: Diplomats don’t enjoy diplomatic immunity when they’re shooting at police officers.
The diplomatic immunity is a product of a practice between the Italian city-states in the Renaissance of exchanging permanent embassies. The idea is that diplomats serving in foreign countries are immune to the laws of their host countries. The idea rests on the principle of reciprocity: You protect my diplomats in your country, and I’ll protect yours serving in my country. And every state has an incentive to have ambassadors serve in other capitals to represent its interests, so each state should see to it that the principle of diplomatic immunity continues to thrive.
It also reminded me of bitter debate in the country I was born in, Romania. A very popular Romanian musician, Teo Peter, (I grew up listening to his music) was killed in a traffic accident in Bucharest in a very early morning of December 2004 when an U.S. Marine embassy guard, drove his Ford SUV through a red light and into a taxi carrying Peter. The American was drunk. He was given a breathalyzer test at the scene which confirmed his drunken state, but since he was a guard at the embassy, he had diplomatic immunity and was allowed to leave the scene. The Romanians requested that the U.S. government lift his immunity, but the U.S. refused to drop his immunity and lifted him out of Romania to Germany. To make things worse, the whole incident came only a year after the Iraq invasion, so we definitely didn’t need the story.
I also remember a similar incident years prior, one in which the U.S. found itself on the other side. On January 3, 1997, a Georgian diplomat, Makharadze, was driving home in DC after heavy drinking when he killied a 16-year-old girl. The Georgian Embassy reminded U.S. authorities of his diplomatic immunity, and he tried to flee the U.S., but under heavy U.S. pressure, Georgian President Shevardnadze waived Makharadze's diplomatic immunity in order to maintain good relations with the U.S. The judge at the trial called Shevardnadze’s decision "courageous." And it was.
Anyway, having my black American Diplomatic passport definitely fills my heart with joy and pride!!!!!
