On Obama and Interpol: Gingrich is full of it and an intellectual elitist stooge.

Warning! Newt Gingrich fears "What, might and could happen" if Interpol has powers it does not have.

Here's another case where the Republican fear tactic of "what, might and could happen" is laughably on display. According to Politifacts:

Conservatives have long feared that America is losing its sovereignty to international organizations, dating back to the John Birch Society issuing warnings about "one world government" in the 1950s. During a Jan. 4, 2010, appearance on The O'Reilly Factor, former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich said: "The president recently signed very quietly an executive order that basically releases Interpol from all American constraints. Freedom of Information Acts don't apply. ... What I'm told is that it could lead to a number of investigations by Interpol in the United States, potentially aimed at American officials. And the question I would raise is, why would the president of the United States give that kind of extralegal protection to an international police force?"

"So you're saying that if there was any abuse by the CIA or something like that, that Interpol now has more authority to come into the United States and investigate it?" O'Reilly asked. "Yes," the Georgia Republican replied.

The key problem with this notion is that Interpol couldn't investigate CIA or American officials, because Interpol doesn't do investigations. Although Interpol is often portrayed in movies as an international police force, solving crimes and arresting bad guys, its actual purposes are modest: It helps police organizations, provides databases of crime information, training and other support services. It doesn't arrest anyone, and doesn't even have its own officers. "All investigations are done by national police," Interpol spokeswoman Rachel Billington said. "We don't have powers of arrest."

So if this executive order doesn't surrender American authority, what does it do? In 2004, Interpol opened an office near the United Nations in New York, and the Obama administration has just gotten around to giving it the rights most other international organizations have. What are these rights? Most of them deal with federal and customs taxes, but one grants Interpol immunity from having its property -- including its archives -- searched or seized.

But there's no reason to believe Interpol will suddenly reverse 87 years of precedent and begin to investigate and prosecute crimes … the current head of Interpol, Ronald Noble, is an American … told the conservative Web site Human Events that "the executive order gives Interpol no law-enforcement or investigative powers to engage in activities on U.S. soil." Noble said that included "searches, seizures or arrests in the U.S."

National Review Online piece by Andy McCarthy … argues the "order removes the negative legal restraints that block Interpol from conducting unauthorized police activity." But, again, Interpol doesn't have police powers to abuse. It can't arrest anyone, and it doesn't conduct investigations. The sheer impossibility of the claims hasn't stopped them from becoming conservative talking points … the claims spread to the aforementioned National Review piece, RedState.com, a column by Chuck Norris on WorldNetDaily and have been mentioned by Glenn Beck on his TV show … Gingrich's claims are: conspiracy theories, based on wild conjecture, not reality.