Europeans don’t seem to mind trains exploding and innocent victims being killed by the dozens with carnage in their streets. Fighting terrorists is a dirty business and European politicians, prosecutors and judges are fighting the good fight – for terrorist rights.

Many Liberals in the United States want America to join an international court system and dump the U.S. Constitution into the Potomac. Some on the Supreme Court look to international law when writing opinions for U.S. citizens.

A German court this month issued arrest warrants for 13 CIA agents allegedly involved in transferring a German-Lebanese terrorist suspect, Khaled al-Masri, to Afghanistan for questioning. Mr. al-Masri had been arrested in Macedonia.

Also in Germany, prosecutors are considering whether to bring war-crimes charges against former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, former CIA Director George Tenet and other senior civilian and military officials. Mr. Rumsfeld, Colin Powell and Dick Cheney were targeted by Belgian courts until the law there was changed.

Our “allies” have an odd way of fighting the war on terror by working with the U.S. on one front then turning the corner to indict U.S. officials.

Many European leaders have been playing a double game, working with the U.S. to root out terrorist plots on the sly — and saving countless lives — while publicly condemning “American methods” in rhetoric that has fed rising anti-Americanism.

It doesn’t help that many Europeans embrace the preposterous legal notion of “universal jurisdiction,” the idea that an ambitious prosecutor can indict and try anyone for an alleged crime committed anywhere in the world.

Arresting developments:

An Italian court 10 days ago indicted 25 CIA agents and a U.S. Air Force lieutenant-colonel on charges that they kidnapped Osama Mustafa Hassan Nasr and illegally took him back to his native Egypt.

Italians and Americans worked together to apprehend Nasr, before whisking him back to Egypt against his will and without the permission of an Italian court. The Milan prosecutor, Armando Spataro, contends that Nasr was “kidnapped.”

Nasr, a radical imam also known as Abu Omar, is a terrorist suspect who had been under Italian police surveillance since 9/11. At Mr. Spataro’s behest, an arrest warrant was issued for Nasr, charging him with building a terrorist network in Europe that actively recruited terrorists, including for Iraq. Eight of his accomplices have been sentenced to up to 10 years in prison on similar charges, and Italian authorities believe more are at large.

The Italians can’t seem to keep their own government intact and it did indeed collapse last week. Who is watching the insane asylum? We have discussed more about the feckless Europeans here.

It’s difficult to understand how the U.S. could be working with countries in the fight on terror while an international court system is threatening our agents risking their lives to capture known terrorists.

The Liberals would have us join the fight – not against terror but against ourselves. Afterall, “Blame America First.”

Source: Wall Street Journal (subscription)