The American Way of Life: Kills Lists and Torture

Soon-to-be CIA director, John Brennan, and one of the CIA drones he wants to introduce you to.

How many Americans are aware that their government has claimed the authority to arbitrarily kill their fellow citizens when it chooses, and that it can do so ‘legally’, without any evidence that the citizen in question posed any threat to anyone, let alone the US government or its ‘interests’?

How many Americans are aware that the US government has responded to court cases brought by the ACLU questioning the US government’s authority to engage in targeted assassinations of US citizens by saying that this is a political question and that US courts and judges have no say in the matter (“There exists no appropriate judicial forum to evaluate these constitutional considerations“)? I’d wager not many. But that’s precisely what the US government has done, according to a leaked unsigned and undated Justice Department white paper, obtained by NBC News. You can read the white paper here. The actual legal justification as defined by Justice Department lawyers in 2010 is being kept secret by the government, but the ‘white paper’ explains that, not only has the government decided that targeted assassinations without due process are legal, but that no evidence of any imminent threat from a target is necessary for the target to be deemed an imminent threat. (Go figure). Read more »

Muslims Don’t Need a Badly Made Film Mocking Mohammed to be Incensed at the USA

A US flag burning at the US embassy in Jordan. One of many such demonstrations that have taken place across the Middle East on many occasions over the past 40 years.

Western governments and the Western media would love for the entire world to believe that the recent (and ongoing) attacks on US embassies in the Middle East, and the killing of the US ambassador and 3 CIA agents in Libya, are motivated solely by the publication of a poorly made ‘film’ that had been doctored to ‘insult’ Islam and Mohammed. This narrative pitches Muslims in general as simple-minded fanatical barbarians, ungrateful for all that Western governments have done for them, and attempts to convince the average Westerner that the only thing Muslims understand is force. Read more »