Rumoured graduates of the school include dictators Manuel Noriega and Omar Torrijos, the assassin of Salvadorean Archbishop Oscar Romero in 1980 and the perpetrators of the 1981 El Mozote massacre of 900 civilians in El Salvador. The bill, the Terrorist Elimination Act of 2001, was introduced on Jan. 3 by Republican Bob Barr. It would nullify parts of three previous executive orders prohibiting assassination or conspiracy to commit assassination.
Some critics claim the bill is more than just a legal gloss to the same old thing.
Indeed, Ismi notes that, apart from allowing leaders of groups or countries at war with the U.S. to be targeted, the bill also poses a general threat to dissent from official U.S. opinion. Some anti-globalization activists fear the men in black will be after them if the bill becomes law. It's not just kids preparing to converge on Quebec City in April for the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas meeting who should be worried, though. In addition, Hugo Chavez, the socialist president of Venezuela, and Colombian guerrillas battling U.S.-backed paramilitaries might be potential victims of a more, uh, liberal assassination policy. If that changes I'd be glad to give you a call.