US War Crimes or ‘Normalized Deviance’
By Nicolas J.S. Davies
For example, once U.S. officials had accepted the Orwellian doublethink that targeted killings, or manhunts as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called them, do not violate long-standing prohibitions against assassination, even a new administration could not walk that decision back without forcing a deviant culture to confront the wrong-headedness and illegality of its original decision.
Then, once the Obama administration had massively escalated the CIAs drone program as an alternative to kidnapping and indefinite detention at Guantanamo, it became even harder to acknowledge that this is a policy of cold-blooded murder that provokes widespread anger and hostility and is counter-productive to legitimate counterterrorism goals or to admit that it violates the U.N. Charters prohibition on the use of force, as U.N. special rapporteurs on extrajudicial killings have warned.
Underlying such decisions is the role of U.S. government lawyers who provide legal cover for them, but who are themselves shielded from accountability by U.S. non-recognition of international courts and the extraordinary deference of U.S. courts to the Executive Branch on matters of national security. These lawyers enjoy a privilege that is unique in their profession, issuing legal opinions that they will never have to defend before impartial courts to provide legal fig-leaves for war crimes....
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article45293.htm
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KeepItReal
(7,769 posts)Wiretapping without a warrant used to be illegal.
Bush & Co. didn't even bother with the rubber stamp FISA court.
But impeachment was off the table...
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)Mr_Jefferson_24
(8,559 posts)...some point with this comment, I'm afraid I've missed it -- please feel free to clarify/elaborate.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)It was of no consequence..
My thoughts about that author are already well documented here
Mr_Jefferson_24
(8,559 posts)...reasoned argumentation, I'll have to give you that much.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)Mr_Jefferson_24
(8,559 posts)Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)That's your ignorance on display chief, and I feel sorry for you... I mean, did you even bother to read it?
Here's Amnesty International's take for good measure (who is repeatedly cited in Mr. Davies' piece so ignore it at your own peril): https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde24/4508/2016/en/
Mr_Jefferson_24
(8,559 posts)Trouble finding your way out?
Don't you ever get tired of showing up on my threads only to spew nothing but Fox News BS talking points?
'Cause I don't mind telling you, it certainly has become tiresome.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)You don't make the rules around here, chief
Mr_Jefferson_24
(8,559 posts)...your post #7. My bad.
In any case, tiresome as your rhetoric may be, thanks for keeping this thread kicked.