Suspected pipe-bomb terrorist Luke J. Helder should be counting his lucky stars that he was captured by the American police before the U.S. military could intervene. Just ask Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who was recently the target of a missile fired by CIA forces in Afghanistan.
Even though Hekmatyar was not part of the Taliban or al-Qaeda, he has nevertheless been labeled a “terrorist” by U.S. officials. Why? Well, as one Pentagon official put it, “We had information that he was planning attacks on American and coalition forces, on the interim government, and on Karzai himself.”
So there you have it — U.S. government “justice” in the war on terrorism. No probable cause. No warrant issued by an independent judge. No arrest. No grand jury indictment. No trial. No conviction. No appeals. Just, “Hey, we’ve got (confidential) information that that guy intends to commit a crime and that’s good enough for us. We don’t need no warrants, lawyers, judges, trials, or constitutional technicalities. Fire that missile, boys, and let’s make the world a little bit safer by taking out one more suspected terrorist.”
