Pakistani Judge Orders Charges Against CIA Lawyer, Officer For Drone Strike

The Pakistani Courts seem to be more willing to abide by the rule of law, at least in the most serious cases, than our U.S. judicial system.

Earlier this month, a Pakistani judge ordered that criminal charges be filed first against a former CIA lawyer who oversaw its drone program and he also ordered that charges be brought against a one-time chief agency operative in Islamabad over a 2009 strike that killed two people. The two who face charges are former acting general counsel John A. Rizzo and ex-station chief Jonathan Bank.The charges they face include murder, conspiracy, terrorism and waging war against Pakistan. The name of the judge who ordered these charges be brought is Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of the Islamabad High Court. A court clerk and a lawyer involved the case, Mirza Shahzad Akbar, confirmed details of the judge’s ruling.

So why haven’t U.S. Courts brought charges, not only for these acts but the thousands that have occurred around the world? How can we ask them to bring such charges? It is, after all, against U.S. law, and international law, to simply kill people without a trial, without charges being filed, without evidence being offered. The Drone approach to international affairs is similar to the state of affairs prior to the signing of the Magna Carta. The CIA does NOT have the Divine Right of Kings– to simply kill whoever they want, without a trial — do they?

For further info on this case, see:
via Pakistani Judge Orders Charges Against CIA Lawyer, Officer For Drone Strike.


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