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.
所有批评关塔那摩湾的人们请注意：对你们的愿望要当心。提名约翰•布伦南(John Brennan)出任中情局(CIA)局长的提议被搁置，多半是因为对使用无人机猎杀基地组织(al-Qaeda)高价值嫌犯和其他恐怖分子疑犯的辩论愈演愈烈。巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)总统的政府辩称这些攻击“合法”、“道德”、“明智”甚至“人道”。反对者则将此类攻击描述为行政权力的扩张——总统身兼法官、陪审团和行刑人三职。似曾相识？理应如此——在乔治•W•布什(George W. Bush)任期内，将恐怖主义嫌犯关押在关塔那摩的政策曾频频引起类似的辩论。