[A-List] US imperialism: Yemen

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Legality of Yemen killing questioned
US claims war on terrorism justifies action of CIA hit team, writes IAN
BRUCE
The Herald, 6 November 2002

THE CIA's hi-tech hit team has taken the US into a grey area of
international legal rights by assassinating Qaeed Sinan Harithi, al Qaeda's
senior official in Yemen.

Harithi and five others were killed by two Hellfire missiles launched by
remote control from a CIA Predator robot drone late on Sunday.

The CIA's 150-strong special activities division is a paramilitary
organisation tasked with finding and eliminating key terrorist figures. It
pioneered the use of armed Predators over Afghanistan last year.

Some international authorities are now questioning the right of the US to
kill targets on sovereign foreign territory.

The UN charter forbids any nation to intervene in the affairs of another
with which it is not at war. Unless the Yemeni government agreed to Sunday's
deadly strike, the US is in violation of that charter.

Alfred Rubin, a professor of law and diplomacy and a former Pentagon
adviser, said: "We used to condemn the Soviets and the Iranians for
murdering their enemies abroad. The Islamic threats to author Salman Rushdie
are a case in point.

"The problem is, even if we accept the premise that the people targeted are
terrorists and enemy combatants, we might find ourselves going down the same
road as Israel. That state's assassination policy against known militants
has not brought peace to the Middle East."

Cherif Bassiouni, professor of international law at DePaul university in
Chicago, described Sunday's killings as "a dangerous precedent" and said
pursuing a policy of eliminating individuals in other countries could cost
the US legitimacy in the war against terrorism.

While relatives of the six suspected al Qaeda victims of the missile strike
could sue for damages if they could prove US officials knew of or approved
the attack, the CIA enjoys special governmental immunity.

While every US president since 1976 has vetoed political assassination,
Ronald Reagan approved air strikes against Libya's Colonel Muammar Gaddafi
in 1981, and George Bush senior gave permission for air strikes to kill
Saddam Hussein in 1991.

His son signed an intelligence "finding" last year instructing the CIA to
engage in "lethal covert operations" to destroy Osama bin Laden and his al
Qaeda network.

White House and CIA lawyers believe the document is constitutional because a
ban on political assassination does not apply in wartime. They also say it
does not forbid pre-emptive action against terrorists.

In France, intelligence agents have detained eight suspects in connection
with a synagogue attack in Tunisia that killed 19 people earlier this year.

Fourteen victims were German tourists and authorities there say they have
evidence linking the attack to al Qaeda. A group that took credit for the
1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania claimed responsibility.

French authorities believe the attack was carried out by Nizar Naouar, a
Tunisian, and an unidentified accomplice. Naouar is believed to have been
driving the petrol tanker that exploded outside the synagogue on Djerba
island, and to have died in the explosion.

One of those detained was Walid Naouar, 22, Nizar's brother. His parents and
three other relatives were among the others detained. His uncle, Belgacem
Naouar, is suspected of rigging the tanker to explode.