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The CIA and the Six Suspects
by Matt Giwer, © 2002 [November] |
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I have some alternate titles for this article. A funny thing happened to me while driving in Yemen.I'm sure it is just me and no one else has problems with a civilian at the CIA murdering six suspects. But aren't civilians killing people what the US calls illegal combatants? When did civilians doing the killing become legal? I know this terrorism war thing is just a pretend war like the war on drugs. But still should not at least someone in uniform have done the honors? Or did a civilian push the button because in the military killing civilians is a courts martial offense? The military keeps civlians around because they have their uses. But I thought the CIA was a civilian organization. And isn't civilians killing civilians a capital offense in this country? Is there something in the fine print of that "Patriot Act" we should know about? Does being a suspect lead to summary execution these days? Are they fair game just outside the country or is it any place? If that is the new law we should all be told how it works. For god's sake! We are not Israelis. What the hell are Americans doing murdering suspects? Even worse the CIA is doing it. Look at the success record of the CIA.
That last one is a joke. Which is not to say the CIA is laughing matter. Maybe the reason the CIA doesn't talk about its successes is it doesn't have any. Every time we hear about something the CIA has done it is some disaster or other. If I were them I would do it the other way around. It makes a great story. Someone at CIA headquarters in the US is piloting a drone carrying a missile. The drone is flying over Yemen in the Middle East at 25,000 feet. He sees a car and decides to test the missile system so he suspects there are suspected members of al Qaeda in the car. There is a satisfying flash on the ground but no sound effects like in a real video game. I used to work as a civilian for the US government. I actually worked for a branch of the military not the civilian CIA. How come I didn't get to kill people? Not that I really wanted to kill anyone other than the occasional contractor and travel reimbursement clerk. But its the principle of the thing. It would have been neat. I could have sat at my desk and patroled the skies over foreigners making the world safe democracy or something. And then when something moved, shoot! I might even have qualified for combat pay and maybe even hazardous duty pay. And no uniform, no saluting, no assignments to dusty countries full of starving people. I keep seeing recruiting ads to join the army. Where do I sign up to be a drone jockey? But they are going to have to change the name. Drone doesn't have much testosterone value even if they fire macho Hellfire missiles. But I do want to travel the world after I retire so they are going to have to give me some assurances of a legal loophole in the Geneva Conventions that this is not a war crime. The least they will have to promise is to have the Marines stage a prison break at the Hague if I am arrested for zapping people from great heights between coffee breaks. The CIA is going to need more people as it expands into homeland security. They will need people to fly these terrorist zappers over the US, protecting our cities, sending suspects to Allah. Only a terrorist would run a red light. Never call it murder. Call it homeland defense.
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