WMD search extends to high seas (Panamá and US sign agreement)

[arcos]

WMD search extends to high seas

PANAMA CITY, Panama (AP) -- Panama will allow U.S. officials to board its flagships and search them for weapons of mass destruction amid concerns that terrorists could take advantage of lax security on the high seas, a Panamanian official said Tuesday.

The agreement, to be signed Wednesday in Washington, is similar to an accord the U.S. State Department reached in February with Liberia, the world's No. 2 shipping registry. Panama is No. 1.

The secretary of justice and the interior, Arnulfo Escalono, traveled to Washington on Tuesday, justice department spokesman David Salayandia told The Associated Press.

The accord gives the U.S. Navy the right to board thousands of commercial ships in international waters to search for weapons of mass destruction, and is "an important step ... to strengthen the mechanisms we have to intercept suspect shipments," Escalono's department said in a news release.

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http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/americas/05/11/panama.ship.ap/


The iron curtain becomes stronger...

[radfringe]

1. I know that bush*

looked under his desk for the WMDs, but did they check his closet?