8 February 2013 - drone attacks 2

< yesterday -- tomorrow >

Justified to Myself Means Justified to the World

Oh but wait, now there’s a leaked memo with a legal justification. It says that strikes against Al Qaeda leaders are justified as long as they present an “imminent threat”, and it carefully lays out explicit rules for telling when that is: These people are Al Qaeda leaders, they could be doing anything, they’re always an imminent threat. Well, this is also simple bureaucratese. It means “We can do anything as long as we think we’re right.”

clue:

The leaked memo is specifically about justifying under American law drone strikes against American citizens. We can reasonably guess that other drone strikes go by a looser standard.

give me a clue so sweet and true

the Daily Whale || copyright 2013, 2024 Jay J.P. Scott <jay@satirist.org>