US Marine Expat Burns Passport In Protest.

July 8, 2002 9:00 AM

US Marine Expat Burns Passport In Protest. As the International Court of Justice (ICC) in The Hague officially started operations on Monday, US activist and expat Kenneth Nichols burned his passport in front of the US consulate in Amsterdam.
posted by tpoh.org (15 comments total)

Burning your passport means so much less than it used to, especially since there's nothing to substatiate his claims and no one else seems to be investigating it (read: no one cares).
posted by yonderboy at 9:17 AM on July 8, 2002

Ohmighod! A passport has been burned! We better join immediately!

Re: Gulf War pills & injections. I have a friend who served in the Marines in Saudi during the Gulf War, and he says only the dim took all the pills they were given. He never mentioned anything about injections.
posted by thirteen at 9:30 AM on July 8, 2002

The ICC, however, only has jurisdiction over events from 1 July 2002.

I think that says it all. I applaud Mr. Nichols' act of civil disobedience, but I think he may be out of luck.
posted by Bag Man at 9:31 AM on July 8, 2002

Yawn. Good riddance.
posted by hadashi at 9:35 AM on July 8, 2002

Is burning a passport news these days? If I burn my voter registration card can I get in the news, too?
posted by Xkot at 9:36 AM on July 8, 2002

I got pissed at my wife and burned my toast as a protest.
posted by Postroad at 9:46 AM on July 8, 2002

[I got pissed at my wife and burned my toast as a protest.]

That particular show of 'civil disobedience' will likely garner a larger reaction than this one.
posted by revbrian at 9:51 AM on July 8, 2002

"Nichols requested asylum in the Netherlands in December 2001..He wishes to relinquish himself of his US citizenship". During the Vietnam War draft-card burners were actually taking a risk in that you could go to prison for not possessing your draft card. Where's the risk here? If he would have renounced his American citizenship maybe, but passport burning is an empty gesture.
posted by Mack Twain at 9:59 AM on July 8, 2002

Wake me when the girls start to burn their bras again.
posted by mikegre at 10:20 AM on July 8, 2002

Wake me when the girls start to burn their bras again.

I think you mean if they start to burn their bras ever.
posted by straight at 10:50 AM on July 8, 2002

I'd say he's managed to pick a country with greater freedom for his asylum request tho'...
posted by i_cola at 10:55 AM on July 8, 2002

this must stop! had he even considered the effect on global warming?
posted by quonsar at 1:16 PM on July 8, 2002

Maybe he just saw all the hassle and delay, like six months at best, you have to go through to do it legally. It seems like every single solitary government department and agency wants to have a dossier on you and to make sure you're on the permanent "poo-poo" list.
posted by kablam at 6:41 PM on July 8, 2002

I doubt we'll take him in, and so does he. From the Dutch papers: "The Dutch government is as corrupt as the American. [If they reject me] I might go to Cuba."

One of his more interesting claims: The US illegally occupies Hawaii. (By the way, them passports really do burn! On tv it was gone in 20 seconds.)
posted by thijsk at 12:47 AM on July 9, 2002

And this is worthy of a front page post why?
posted by catatonic at 6:23 AM on July 9, 2002