David A. Passaro is "the sole CIA worker to be indicted publicly as the result of a detainee's death in the war on terrorism." He is accused of killing Abdul Wali with "with his hands, feet and a dangerous weapon -- a flashlight." In his defense his lawyer "cited an August 2002 Justice Department memo that concluded 'a defendant who had acted pursuant to an exercise of the President's constitutional powers' in conducting an interrogation could not be criminally prosecuted." We all know about those Justice Department memos that argued that there are no Constitutional or Congressional limitations of the President's power when he acts in his "Commander-in-Chief" capacity.
So what does the government have to say in response to Passaro's defense strategy?
[T]he government, in a pleading first unsealed yesterday, said the memo dealt with torture and "expressed no opinion" about federal statutes prohibiting murder or assault.
from an interview with a convicted Hutu killer: "During that killing season we rose earlier than usual to eat lots of meat and we went up to the soccer field at around nine or ten.The leaders would grumble about latecomers and we would go off on the attack.Rule number one was to kill. There was no rule number two. It was an organization without complications." Unlike the US military with its memos and such.Are they fed lots of meat in the morning?
Posted by: Troutsky at April 14, 2005 12:54 PM