Friday, May 28, 2010
Hoist with their own petard
Almost literally, in this case:
"A senior United Nations official is expected to call on the United States next week to stop Central Intelligence Agency drone strikes against people suspected of belonging to Al Qaeda."Needless to say, the U.S. solution was to rewrite the manual, not to stop the drone strikes.
...
"[An Army manual defines] the charge of “murder in violation of the laws of war” as a killing by someone who did not meet “the requirements for lawful combatancy” — like being part of a regular army or otherwise wearing a uniform.
...
"But as the Khadr hearing approached, Harold Koh, the State Department legal adviser, pointed out that such a definition could be construed as a concession by the United States that C.I.A. drone operators were war criminals."
