I am actually somewhat sympathetic to Dick Cheney’s view that a group of people in Yemen who train and finance terrorists who murder, or attempt to murder, U.S. citizens should not be treated as common criminals. The problem (and that it is a problem should be obvious by now) is that every attempt Cheney made to treat acts of terror or suspected terror as acts of war failed miserably during the Bush administration. Whether it was the reputational cost of Guantanamo and secret prisons, or the mistreatment of and denial of due process to prisoners, or the attempt to set up special courts, or the effort to abrogate the fourth amendment, the Supreme Court refused to endorse any of it.
So, while I agree that international non-state financed terrorism presents troublesome challenges, it ought to be clear that Dick Cheney is advocating lawlessness that has already been adjudicated. In other words, he’s just politicizing our national security. And, considering that he’s committed many crimes, we really should not have to tolerate this. Someone else can make these arguments in the court of opinion. Cheney should be making his case in a court of law. A self-respecting country would demand nothing less.
