[Peace-discuss] [Fwd: ICH: U.S. Death Squads Roam The Globe]

[C. G. Estabrook]

[The piece by Chris Floyd that David cites should be read by all.]

At some point earlier this month, Barack Obama took a moment out of his busy day 
to sign an "execute order." That is, he ordered American agents to kill a man 
without any legal procedure whatsoever: no arrest, no trial, no formal 
presentation – and disputation – of evidence, no defense…and no warning. They 
killed him on the open road, in a sneak attack; he was not engaged in combat, he 
was not posing an imminent threat to anyone at the time, he had not been charged 
with any crime. This kind of thing is ordinarily regarded as murder. Certainly, 
if you or I killed someone in this way – or paid someone to do it – then we 
would find ourselves in the dock, facing life imprisonment or our own execution. 
But then, you and I are subject to the law; our leaders are not.

Let's say it again, just to let the reality of the situation sink in a bit 
further: at some point last week, Barack Obama ordered men in his employ to 
murder another human being. And not a single voice of protest was raised 
anywhere in the American political and media establishments. Churchmen did not 
thunder from the pulpits about this lawless action. The self-proclaimed patriots 
and liberty-lovers on the ever-more militant Right did not denounce this most 
extreme expression of state tyranny: the leader's arbitrary power to kill anyone 
he pleases. It is simply an accepted, undisputed fact of American life today 
that American leaders can and do – and should – murder people, anywhere in the 
world, if they see fit. When this supreme tyranny is noted at all, it is simply 
to celebrate the Leader for his toughness -- or perhaps chide him for not 
killing even more people in this fashion...

David Green wrote:
> Nor does this doctrine of presidential murder make any distinction 
> between American citizens and foreigner. Indeed, one of the first people 
> /known /to have been killed in this way was an American citizen 
> <http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/nov2002/yem-n12.shtml> living in 
> Yemen. So let us put the reality in its plainest terms: if the president 
> of the United States decides to call you a terrorist and kill you, he 
> can. He doesn't have to arrest you, he doesn't have to charge you, he 
> doesn't have to put you on trial, he doesn't have to convict you, he 
> doesn't have to sentence you, he doesn't have to allow you any appeals: 
> he can just kill you. And no one in the American power structure will 
> speak up for you or denounce your murder; they won't even see that it's 
> wrong, they won't even consider it remarkable. It's just business as 
> usual. It's just the way things are done. It's just the way we are now.
> http://www.chris-floyd.com/component/content/article/1-latest-news/1841-blood-on-the-tracks-the-continuing-lessons-of-terror-and-tyranny.html
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* C. G. Estabrook <galliher at illinois.edu>
> *To:* Peace-discuss <peace-discuss at anti-war.net>
> *Sent:* Thursday, September 17, 2009 2:48:21 PM
> *Subject:* [Peace-discuss] [Fwd: ICH: U.S. Death Squads Roam The Globe]
> 
> [From the Kennedy administration (who innovated death squads in Latin 
> America) to the Obama administration (who put McChrystal, a death squad 
> assassin, in charge of 'protecting civilians' in AfPak), this has been 
> the favored American mode of politics around the world. --CGE]
> 
>     Commando Raid in Somalia is Latest in
>     Covert Operations Across the Globe
>     By Bill Roggio
> 
> September 17, 2009 "Long War Journal' -- Yesterday's daring raid in 
> southern Somalia that targeted and killed a senior al Qaeda leader 
> wanted for several deadly attacks is the latest in a series of covert 
> operations carried out by US and allied special operations. At least 
> four other high-profile raids by ground forces took place in Pakistan, 
> Madagascar, and Syria over the past several years, while others have 
> gone unreported, according to US officials...