re: #123 Gus

I think their use in warfare is useful. However, there are larger questions here which can be summed up in a couple of questions.

Are we OK with president being able to carry out “private” and secret wars without the consent of congress and the American public?

Are we also willing to allow the president to continue to carry out the extra-judicial killing of citizens and non-citizens around the world and again with little or no congressional oversight and kept secret from the American public?

Is this the way a true democracy behaves?

Is this a slippery slope?

Well, In an attempt to answer all those questions: I think this stuff has been going on behind the scenes for a very long time. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t. Unfortunately the legal framework for this kind of thing is always a bit sketchy. Gitmo was a nice try but it doesn’t work. Civilians trials would work in a few select cases but not in most. The only other alternative is to skip the capture and kill them in the field. People only get uncomfortable when this stuff is visible and in public view. If there was a way to do this secretly and out of sight, more people would be happy with it. Kind of like buying meat at the supermarket as long as you don;t have to think about the slaughter house.