BEWARE the NARCO TERRORISTS!

This cartoon is by me and Nadine Scholtes.

Like a lot of people, I’ve been reading the news about Trump’s attacks on so-called “narco terrorists” with horror.

From an ACLU press release:

Not only does the administration claim to have sweeping power to target and kill U.S. citizens anywhere in the world, but it makes the extraordinary claim that the court has no role in reviewing that power or the legal standards that apply… If the Constitution means anything, it surely means that the president does not have unreviewable authority to summarily execute any American whom he concludes is an enemy of the state.

Quoting that press release is a bit sneaky of me, because it’s from 2010, about the Obama administration’s drone strikes outside of combat zones. Those drone strikes killed hundreds or thousands of civilians; it’s hard to know precisely how many civilians were killed, since the official Obama administration numbers simply counted all adult men, without regard for who they were or what they did, as fighters and legitimate targets.

I do see some distinction between Obama’s drone strikes and Trump’s. At one level, I simply trust Obama more than I do Trump (a bar so low you’d need a shovel). I find it easier to imagine Trump calling for his peaceful political enemies to be killed. (Oh, wait, I don’t have to imagine it.)

Another difference: Obama’s strikes were aimed, at least in theory, at the Taliban and Al Qaeda, two groups that actually exist and had committed serious terrorist attacks on Americans. In contrast, Trump’s strikes are against the Cartel de lose Soles, a group that “is probably not a terrorist organisation as most people understand them. Whether it is even an organisation in a formal sense is also up for debate.”

But I’m also disturbed at the similarities. Both campaigns killed innocent civilians (a definite fact for Obama, and highly likely for Trump).

Both Obama and Trump claimed a legally murky right to pick targets for extrajudicial killing without any review from courts or Congress. That’s more power than I wanted Obama to have, and it’s certainly more power than I want Trump to have.

Even if you think that Obama’s drone strikes were justifiable, it’s hard to deny that the way they were done – without oversight, and with claims of being unanswerable to other branches of government – set a terrible precedent.

The U.S. shouldn’t be ruled by an emperor who can arbitrarily choose to kill people with a thumb’s down.

TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON

This cartoon has five panels. They show two people, a Black woman wearing a white turtleneck, and a white woman wearing a red MAGA cap, talking in a park.

PANEL 1

Turtleneck is holding a smartphone and speaking angrily. Red Cap is taken a bit aback.

TURTLENECK: Look at this! Trump had the Navy shoot another boat of “narco-terrorists” in international waters! No evidence, no trial, just an execution!

PANEL 2

Turtleneck points at Red Cap accusingly; Red Cap raises her palms placatingly.

TURTLENECK: How can you condone this? What’s wrong with you?

RED CAP: Calm down! There’s no need to be uncivil! We can disagree and still be reasonable.

PANEL 3

Turtleneck, still angry, walks away muttering; Red Cap smiles and waves bye.

TURTLENECK: Mumble grumble stupidnazi fascists

RED CAP: Go touch some grass. Bye!

PANEL 4

Red Cap continues smiling and waving bye.

PANEL 5

Still smiling and waving, Red Cap is making a call on her cell phone.

RED CAP: Hello, U.S. Navy? I’m calling to report a narco-terrorist.

CHICKEN FAT WATCH

“Chicken Fat” is obsolete cartoonists’ lingo for Eater Eggs.

PANEL 1 – A happy little mouse is holding a pink balloon. Far in the background, a bird soars.

PANEL 2 – The mouse, now sad, has lost its balloon, which floats into the sky. The bird flies to the balloon.

PANEL 3 – The bird returns the balloon to the again-happy mouse.

PANEL 4 – The MAGA hat reads “Make America Spell Agian”

PANEL 5 – The MAGA hat reads “Mash America’s Grapes Again”

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