Tightening the Net

The Reagan Administration, practicing what it preaches on world terrorism, has signed with the British government an appropriate and useful supplement to the 1972 extradition treaty. It is aimed primarily at Irish terrorists but would apply to all who resort to violence.

Clear, unambiguous, effective extradition agreements are essential if civilized nations are to control international terrorism. The validity of that was demonstrated in recent days in the effort to bring to justice those responsible for the hijacking of the Achille Lauro.

Unfortunately, not all Americans agree. Those Americans who continue to support terrorism in Northern Ireland, and a number of Irish-Americans with a penchant for bashing the British out of historic hostility, have mounted an intense campaign to block Senate ratification of the supplementary treaty. They are not likely to prevail. Congressional leaders, including distinguished Irish-American senators and members of the House, have come to recognize that the violence-driven minority in Ireland is an obstacle to the restoration of justice.

In at least four recent cases, extradition of alleged Irish Republican Army terrorists has been blocked by American courts on grounds that the crimes, however violent, were politically motivated. The courts have relied on an 1891 case to support their decisions. The supplementary treaty now before the U.S. Senate for ratification would end the ambiguity by stripping away the political protection for the crimes commonly associated with terrorism, including seizure of aircraft, kidnaping, bombing and murdering. Ratification would permit extradition procedures to be renewed in the outstanding cases and would clear the way for a prompt response to new cases.

Opponents have raised arguments of principle, asserting that the agreement would expose to questionable justice many involved in crimes in the distant past of Irish-British hostilities. Those arguments are not valid. The system of British justice applied in Northern Ireland has shownevery sign of working fairly. There are no juries for the obvious reason that in the present state of emergency in North Ireland no juror could be assured protection. But last year alone, 54% of those brought to trial were acquitted. Only this month, one of the most notorious suspects, the first, in fact, to be extradited from Ireland itself, won an appeal in the British court from his conviction. The proposed changes in the statute of limitations conform to other recent treaties and do not alter that status of those suspected of crimes of many years ago. There is no intent to press charges in old cases, but their status is unchanged.

There is no secret about the intentions of this supplementary treaty. It is to close an escape hatch for persons suspected of terrorism. It is another step toward constructing valid, effective, constitutional rules of law to control those who have deliberately abandoned legal and democratic means, choosing bullets instead of ballots.