There has been a lot of hysteria over the issue of “Sharia Law” in the United States. Here are the facts about Sharia Law and why my opinion as a Fortune 500-trained international attorney should interest you. Here is why Sharia Law does not apply in the U.S.
I have negotiated in over 50 countries since the 70s, which means I’ve had to research and know 50 different legal systems (plus numerous State laws and all the international treaties, etc. as part of representing an international company, and later as an entrepreneur). I first encountered Sharia Law as in-house counsel for Brown & Root and Dresser Industries when my employers were establishing Joint Ventures and other contracts for construction, oil services and manufacturing in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran, etc. (At one point I was asked to be the contract attorney for B&R on the naval base they were building for the Shah of Iran at Chabahar on the Persian Gulf. Fortunately I took another job and was not there when it was overrun by the Iranian revolutionaries in 1979. Instead, I was in Cairo at the time, giving up my room at the Nile Hilton for a Presidential peace mission between Egypt and Israel. Details will be included in my upcoming book "Better Times Ahead: April Fool?")
So my opinion should be considered as an international legal expert opinion, right? BUT even I did what no one else apparently has done, including our lawmakers - I researched it! (Lawyers don't just blow opinions out the nose, or base "fact" on what some wacko on the Internet says. They dig for FACTS and what the law books say).
I'm embarrassed our legislators don't know that Sharia Law only applies in two Mideast countries, Saudi Arabia and Iran, not here. Everyone within our jurisdiction is subject only to our laws, not theirs, regardless of your nationality. If you are Martian in Texas, Texas law applies, not Martian law. If you are from Saudi Arabia, only American law applies. Any judge who doesn’t know that is incompetent and gets embarrassed and reversed on appeal, like a recent New Jersey case of a husband who claimed it was ok “back home” to rape his wife.
If you and I go to Saudi Arabia, then yes, their Saudi Sharia law applies. Same in Iran. Note that the debate between the “cutting off a hand for theft” versus executing a person later exonerated by DNA evidence is not a debate we should engage until we no longer have those incidents in our own system. How many Congressmen would be missing limbs under Sharia law anyway? LOL.
To their relief of lawmakers and their hands and feet, I can say that Sharia Law only applies in Saudi Arabia and Iran, not Washington DC, Austin or Phoenix. Any law student should be able to tell you that.
The only law that applies in Texas is Texas law (and U.S. law). The only law that applies in Arizona is Arizona law (and U.S. law), etc. It's the same for all the states. Anyone within our borders is subject to the law of the place where you are. Even foreign travelers are subject to Texas law when in Texas, and Iowa when in Iowa, etc. regardless of what their legal system is like at home in England, Saudi or Mars.
So, is this is a phony issue? Is it intended to be a distraction from the real key issue facing us: Developing a sustainable budget in the face of extraordinary deficits!?
Because nothing else is more important to our future. We MUST get our budget system in balance but avoid the 1937 mistake of FDR cutting back too fast and depressing the economy.
We also have to avoid undercutting the investment needed by our country's next generation for America to maintain a lead in the global high tech competition we face. We can't fix a problem caused by a decade of ‘borrow and spend’ like drunken sailors’ with ‘cutting like drunken butchers.’ We don't need to cut bone or muscle. We need a scalpel approach, not a meat cleaver.
Those obsessed with Sharia Law need to educate themselves. The issue is whether it applies to cases in states in the United States or in U.S. courts. It doesn't. Get an international lawyer to research it and confirm what I am saying. Then let us move on to real urgent issues facing us!
Once we fix the budget we need an American strategic plan that is fair and balanced and plays our strengths in an increasingly competitive world with its shrinking resources.
What has been proposed by Mr. Ryan is neither. It penalizes seniors and kids. It gives the richest a permanent pass on paying their fair share. It fails to invest in our technology future, which is vital for our success against a world of high tech countries. It does not lift all boats, only the wealthiest ones.
The President is about to announce a budget plan. Beyond what Mr. Ryan and the President offer, I am proposing my own vision for America as part of my upcoming book, "Better Times Ahead: April Fool?" It is a global strategic plan for the United States. It is more visionary than anything we have had since JFK.
Stay tuned for updates either here or at our blog: http://globalamericanvalues.blogspot.com/
Michael Fjetland
Global American Series
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http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GlobalAmerican/
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