Obama's Extra-Judicial Killers Subvert American Values | Nat Hentoff | Cato Institute: Commentary

Obama's Extra-Judicial Killers Subvert American Values | Nat Hentoff | Cato Institute: Commentary: "'The embrace of the Predator program has occurred with remarkably little public discussion.' That's why I'm writing this series. Mayer continued: '(yet) it represents a radically new and geographically unbounded use of state-sanctioned lethal force. And, because of the C.I.A. program's secrecy, there is no visible system of accountability in place, despite the fact that the agency has killed many civilians inside a politically fragile, nuclear-armed country with which the U.S. is not at war.'"

"As Whitlock emphasizes, there is 'fierce opposition from Afghan officials, who say it could undermine their fragile justice system and trigger a backlash against foreign troops.'

The Afghan family survivors of those inadvertently but terminally killed nonterrorist men, women and children in implementing this hit list are deeply angry at this lethal operation by foreign forces including us.

Afghanistan's deputy foreign minister for counter-narcotics operations, Gen. Mohammad Daud Daud, says that he's grateful for this NATO-U.S. help 'in destroying drug labs and stashes of opium,' but about those killings, he adds the names on the hit list are not told to Afghan officials.

Says Daud: 'They should respect our law, our constitution and our legal codes,' Daud said. 'We have a commitment to arrest these people on our own.' Note: Arrest, not kill instantly."