REAL assassination politics

[Declan McCullagh]

from fas:


ASSASSINATION POLITICS

In a new bill introduced in the House of Representatives on January 3, Rep. 
Bob Barr proposed to eliminate the longstanding official prohibition 
against assassination.

Executive Order 12333, issued by President Reagan and currently in effect, 
dictates that "No person employed by or acting on behalf of the United 
States Government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, 
assassination."  This restates similar prohibitions issued by the Ford and 
Carter Administrations.

According to Rep. Barr, however, "These Executive orders limit the swift, 
sure, and precise action needed by the United States to protect our 
national security."

Rep. Barr did not indicate exactly who he wants the Government to 
assassinate.  His bill does say, encouragingly, that assassination "is a 
remedy which should be used sparingly."

Moral considerations aside, the consensus of opinion among mainstream 
politicians of both parties has always been that the United States has more 
to lose than to gain by legitimizing assassination.

The text of the new bill, dubbed "The Terrorist Elimination Act of 2001," 
was posted by John Young on his outstanding site cryptome.org here:

         http://cryptome.org/hr19.txt


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