Boat-strike legal rationale Judge orders secret review

Sep 30

Goodman reports that a federal judge ordered the Pentagon on Wednesday to submit its secret legal justification for lethal Caribbean and Pacific boat strikes for the judge's review before a disclosure decision. She says the Pentagon alleges drug trafficking without supplying evidence and claims seventy strikes and more than two hundred deaths since the previous fall. She quotes ACLU attorney Jeffrey Stein welcoming the order and accusing the government of executing civilians under secret law. The report announces judicial review, not public release of the rationale or a final legality ruling.

A federal judge orders the Pentagon to submit its secret legal rationale for lethal Caribbean and Pacific boat strikes for judicial review before a disclosure decision. Democracy Now attributes trafficking allegations and campaign counts to the Pentagon, and quotes the ACLU welcoming scrutiny and accusing the government of executing civilians under secret law. This is neither public disclosure nor a final legality ruling.