Pulp Fiction

--Cardow, Ottawa Citizen

Any forces that would impose their will
on other nations will certainly face defeat
--General Vo Nguyen Giap

No protracted war can fail to endanger
the freedom of a democratic country.
--Alexis de Tocqueville
_______________

The recently revealed terrorist assassination program considered by the U.S. government is flatly illegal because it follows the intelligence community's "mosaic theory' of guilt, versus any legal standard.

From a New York Times article on the habeas trials of detainees in federal district court,

"Their Own Private Guantánamo":

The trial judges have also rejected much of the intelligence community’s “mosaic theory,” which calls for interpreting minor facts to suggest a greater threat. Judge Kessler, for example, refused to infer that Mr. Ahmed was an enemy fighter simply based on a “web of statements” that he had associated with enemy fighters.

She acknowledged that the mosaic approach “is a common and well-established mode of analysis in the intelligence community,” but that the legal system required more specific evidence. . .”

The mosaic theory does not require specific evidence, so much as a chain of connections, which can be based upon hearsay. Killing people without compelling evidence is not justifiable by a democratic state. Before killing, there must be credible evidence to seal a death sentence.

Intelligence types are neither judges nor juries, and their analysis should not be used to justify executions.