LEGAL COMMENTARY:

The New Commandment on Political Murders: Thou Shalt Not Kill—But We Will

Not only the law but also US foreign policy has changed with respect to political murders, casting away years of international efforts to forbid extra-judicial killings. The new US commandment is: Thou shall not kill—but we will. The word “thou” in the commandment is a bit convoluted. It means Syria and other disfavored states. It does not include Israel and other allies. The US, as the sole superpower, is of course above and beyond all commandments. Under the new commandment, the US reserves the right to murder whomever it pleases, to condemn or condone political murders as it pleases. Here are three episodes that illuminate the new commandment.

The UN report provides a basis, however thin, for the US ruling group to slash the Syrian throat. After Iraq, Syria has been the perfect next target for a while. The US ruling group needs new subterfuges to sustain the failing war on terror. Pouncing on the opportunity, Secretary of State Condeleeza Rice has already convicted the entire Syrian government. The UN report cannot be “left lying on the table,” she said. The military option is always there, President Bush announced on Al Arabiya television. Neocons agree wholeheartedly. Punishing Syria would also delight Prime Minister Sharon, whose own involvement in the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacres in Lebanon was not even referred to any UN investigation commission.

Back home, particularly in Washington, the air was drenched with morbidity. Deaths of the enemy’s children were seen as rare trophies. Contrary to Pentagon wishes and contrary to the laws of war, the broken faces of Uday and Qusai were reconstructed with plastic pudding for a grand display. Gruesome pictures of the brothers were shown to the world as proof of the dead. Major newspapers, including the New York Times, celebrated the murders and congratulated the Bush administration for a heroic undertaking. So widespread was the joy in the murders that even some liberal Senators were bathing their hands in the blood.

These three episodes demonstrate that the US is evolving into a capricious monster. It no longer respects the rule of law. Away from the luminous halls on Capitol Hill where democracy is showcased for the American public and the world, lawless and arbitrary decisions are made in dim caves accessible only to select members of the ruling group. The world must demand that the Bush administration make an unequivocal statement in the UN Security Council that the US upholds the law against all political murders, with no exceptions.