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Illegal wars, targeted assassinations, other lawless killing, unconstitutional military tribunals, torture, and indefinite military detentions replaced them.
From inception, Guantanamo "was a laboratory for unlawful military interrogation, detention, and trials." All US torture prisons symbolize imperial lawlessness.
Candidate Obama said Bush officials "compromised our most precious values." As president, he exceeded the worst of his predecessor. Rule of law principles no longer apply. Freedom hangs by a thread. Anyone considered threatening is guilty by accusation. So are nations earmarked for regime change.
"No national security policy raises a graver threat to human rights," international law, and peace, "than targeted killing, because the government claims the unchecked authority to impose an extrajudicial death sentence on" anyone anywhere for any reason or none at all.
Bush officials initiated target killings. Obama expanded them exponentially. Secret "kill lists" were compiled. Legal criteria aren't disclosed. None, in fact, exist. People are spuriously called terrorists. Lethal force is policy. So is unchecked militarization and war on humanity.
Claiming national security concerns, in fact, undermines it. Pursuing permanent war and targeted killings subvert fundamental democratic values. Today they hang by a thread.
Undermining Rule of Law Principles
Post-9/11, Dick Cheney announced "us(ing) any means at our disposal, basically, to achieve our objective(s)." War, mass killing, illegal detentions, torture, and cold-blooded murder followed.
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