Assassins R Us

I missed this from a few days ago. Looks like the US is starting up the equivalent of a 21st century Phoenix Program in order to "fight terrorism."

Famed "blowback" theorist Chalmers Johnson explains,

As the Iraqi resistance expands and perfects its attacks, the American military, like so many occupying armies before it, is turning to methods of warfare long outlawed by civilized nations – assassinations and reprisals against civilians. When it comes to the first, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has long been on record as wanting Saddam Hussein and the leaders of al-Qaeda and the Taliban brought in "dead or alive," with emphasis on the former.

Now, according to a November 7th front-page piece in the New York Times, the Pentagon, in conjunction with the CIA, has announced the creation of a new "task force" – polite language for an assassination squad – to accomplish these ends. "The new Special Operations organization," according to reporters Thom Shanker and Eric Schmitt, "is designed to act with greater speed on intelligence tips about 'high-value targets' and not be contained within the borders where American conventional forces are operating in Iraq and Afghanistan." In other words, this death squad, composed of U.S. Army Special Forces troops, can run down its quarry in countries like Yemen, Saudi Arabia, or Pakistan but presumably also (if the occasion required it) in France, Germany, or even the United States itself.

As Johnson sardonically notes, if it's good for the Israelis, it surely must be good for the Americans. Some more madness to contemplate...

BTW - Johnson wrote one of the best pieces on how the Bush administration drove the US to war in Iraq. It's adapted from his forthcoming book, which should be out in January.