I presume that your first question was rhetorical. So, on to the second...

Quote Originally Posted by AmericanPride View Post
And how does selectively employing these laws also affect our credibility and our interests, since you acknowledge that we will likely not apply Chertoff's suggestion universally or fairly?
I would say that anytime that it appears that we are selectively attempting to enforce laws, it harms our credibility. Whether it harms our interests is situation dependent. For example, let's say that waterboarding KSM was illegal, but that we got some actionable intelligence to prevent a significant attack upon us. I think you could argue either way whether this was in our best interests (good in terms of defending against a threat, bad in terms of public diplomacy).

Could the PRC invoke such a law, given the PRC's view of Taiwan's legal status? What could be the consequences for US-PRC relations?
Question 1: yes. Question 2: probably bad.

So where are you going with this line of questioning?