General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: A Note On 'Drone Strikes', Ladies And Gentlemen [View all]The Magistrate
(95,332 posts)Capone, wield however much power he might have done, operated in the bounds of the country, where its civil police power could be exercised fully.
Your comment makes clear you regard the loose-knit body of Islamic fundamentalists as criminals, and that is certainly one possible point of view. But it is not a point of view anyone, including authorities of the government of the United States, is required to take.
There are, to my view, some difficulties with the 'criminal' point of view in regards to these people which seem to draw little comment. It is difficult for me to take seriously a claim that a person who is not a citizen of the United States, outside the borders of the United States, can be held liable to the criminal law of the United States. I know there are arguments made for this, but they do not impress me much. If one wants to bite the bullet and say, yes, were are a global imperium, and every so-called nation on earth is simply a province of ours, then, yes, it could be said that, say, a citizen of Egypt acting in the Tribal Territories of Pakistan, has violated U.S. law, because he is a subject of the Empire, whether he likes it or not, but otherwise, the idea that criminal law of the United States is being enforced by some action against a person in that situation rings a little hollow.