Human Rights Watch and others say it would matter if drone strikes were moved away from the CIA because the military is more transparent and accountable to compliance with U.S. and international law than the CIA. See the links below.
In addition, some, such as Gareth Porter, argue that it is a fundamental conflict of interest for the CIA to be running a paramilitary program at the same time as it is responsible for analyzing U.S. policy and assessing its impact. On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 6:19 PM, Jim Devine <[email protected]> wrote: > Robert Naiman wrote: >> There *is* a split within "the ruling class," including a split within >> the Administration between (broadly speaking) the CIA and the military >> on the one hand and State and Justice on the other, with the former >> pushing for expanded drone strikes and the latter pushing back. >> >> The Washington Post has called for the CIA to get out of drone >> strikes. So has Human Rights Watch. People I talk to in Congress and >> nearby think that this is a plausible ask. > > Who will replace the CIA in ordering and implementing drone strikes? > But does it really matter who replaces the CIA? That is, does it > really matter if (say) the Pentagon takes over this bloody business? > Are they more humanitarian or civil libertarian than the CIA is? > > And what about the Justice Department? See the following article from > Alternet > (http://www.alternet.org/story/154455/murder_is_legal,_according_to_eric_holder): > >>> Murder is Legal, According to Eric Holder [by David Swanson] > Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday explained why he thinks it is > legal to murder people, even without trial, arrest, or charges filed. > March 7, 2012 | > >>> Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday explained why it's legal to murder >>> people -- not to execute prisoners convicted of capital crimes, not to >>> shoot someone in self-defense, not to fight on a battlefield in a war that >>> is somehow legalized, but to target and kill an individual sitting on his >>> sofa, with no charges, no arrest, no trial, no approval from a court, no >>> approval from a legislature, no approval from we the people, and in fact no >>> sharing of information with any institutions that are not the president. << > > Would the Holder's Justice Department fundamentally change the drone > wars? would it be more civil libertarian than the CIA? Haven't they > justified the killing of US citizens without trial? Haven't they > justified the 16-year-old son of Anwar al-Awlaki, i.e., Abdulrahman > al-Awlaki, despite the fact that he was born in Colorado. > > More importantly, is anyone pushing Obama to stop drone strikes > _completely_? He seems pretty wedded to the policy of using them. > (Does he care what Human Rights Watch thinks?) To my mind, the only > way to get the Obamen to "reform" the attack of the drones is to fight > against their use _period_ instead of pushing to change the way in > which they are implemented. > > By the way, the "ruling class" differs from the "governing elite" (or > what C. Wright Mills called the "power elite"). The former refers the > capitalist class as a whole (which "rules" capitalism) while the > latter refers to the "Administration" (the small number of people who > are highly influential in making government decisions, which would > include John Boehner). In normal times, the governing elite works to > preserve capitalism and thus serves the ruling class. There's a lot of > overlap of personnel. > -- > Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your > own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante. > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l -- Robert Naiman Policy Director Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org [email protected] "But sad to say the chances happen never You have to reach up high and man is low! We'd all be glad to live in peace forever It seems that circumstance won't have it so!" - "The World Is Mean," Threepenny Opera, Brecht/Blitzstein 1928/1954 _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
