The whole thrust of this article doesn't really apply to McCain's case. There is also a subtle error in logic in the original article that creates this controversy. The article claims "Panama, is not a U.S. territory - it is a sovereign nation". The whole controversy is predicated on this statment of fact however, this fact is a red herring. John McCain was not born in the sovereign nation of Panama but in the then US Territory of the Canal Zone. The Canal Zone operated under US federal law within US Court jurisdiction. It had it's own US police force and US military bases within it.