| Subject: |
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Re: Has Spain 'WON' the battle for our Cultural Heritage ?? |
| Name: |
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Bob Ward |
| Date Posted: |
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Dec 22, 06 - 12:55 AM |
| Email: |
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drake@newportnet.com |
| Message: |
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Pat,
I always feel humbled when you respond to my postings, because of your vast experience in these matters. However, you can't blame Jim Goold for his zealor in pursuing his client's interests: that is his job. You are right in pointing the finger at the US Government, but trying to put yourself in the position of the people who negotiated the 1902 Treaty, I think they were concentrating on protecting the rights of the US in respect of US ships that were lost in the territorial waters of Spain and elsewhere. I doubt that they considered, in 1902, the extent and value of Spanish ships that had been wrecked in US waters. Why should they at the time?
The motivation of the US delegates who chose to interpret the meaning of the Treaty at the time of the Seahunt case in 2000 is another matter entirely. It might seem a rather fetched analogy, but in the same way that President Bush was able, single handedly, to launch the Iraq war, so Bob Blumberg and Ole Varmer were allowed to subjugate the US rights to shipwrecks in its waters to Spain. The concept that Spanish wrecks lost in US waters should require a standard of specific abandonment is purely a US Government initiative, designed to protect US ships lost elsewhere in the world. I have no doubt that their motives were admirable, but the consequences for US citizens were very extensive.
I agree with you that the US Government should re-examine its position in light of what is good for its own citizens, even if that is bad for me as personal representative of the current heir to Hernan Cortes, whose interests are enhanced by the current interpreatation of the meaning of the 1902 Treaty.
However, I think it is almost certain that, given the need to adjucicate, NOAA will currently come down on supporting the 2000 interpreation of the 1902 Treaty.
Bob Ward |
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