Memo to all those critics of Guantánamo Bay: beware what you wish for. The nomination of John Brennan to head the CIA was put on hold, in no small part because of the growing debate over the use of drone strikes to kill suspected high-value al-Qaeda operatives and other alleged terrorists. President Barack Obama’s administration defends these strikes as “legal”, “ethical”, “wise” and even “humane”. Opponents characterise them as an aggrandisement of executive power in which the president becomes judge, jury and executioner. Sound familiar? It should – because it parallels the debate over the policy of detaining terrorist suspects at Guantánamo that punctuated most of George W. Bush’s time in office.
所有批評關塔那摩灣的人們請注意：對你們的愿望要當心。提名約翰?布倫南(John Brennan)出任中情局(CIA)局長的提議被擱置，多半是因為對使用無人機獵殺基地組織(al-Qaeda)高價值嫌犯和其他恐怖分子疑犯的辯論愈演愈烈。巴拉克?奧巴馬(Barack Obama)總統的政府辯稱這些攻擊“合法”、“道德”、“明智”甚至“人道”。反對者則將此類攻擊描述為行政權力的擴張——總統身兼法官、陪審團和行刑人三職。似曾相識？理應如此——在喬治?W?布什(George W. Bush)任期內，將恐怖主義嫌犯關押在關塔那摩的政策曾頻頻引起類似的辯論。