Tom Engelhardt: Welcome to Post-Legal America!

Is the Libyan war legal? Was Bin Laden's killing legal? Is it legal for our "president" to target an American citizen for assassination? Were those "enhanced"interrogation techniques legal? Americans need to know, so that they might escape the "Spanish Inquisition", or by now the "American" version of it! Yes, we have willingly decided to look back into ancient history books, to find out how much torture we can use to make a man (or woman, perhaps even a child, talk to the inquisitors of our "government".) As a veteran who served in Vietnam, and who almost got his ass shot off for these same magnificent rulers, so those of us who survived REALLY, REALLY want to know! My questions, for those of us who understand our "government of the people, sometimes even by the people, and much less for the people, have a right to be upset. To us, memorial day is much more than a date on a new calender, but a painful memory of those we killed, and those who almost killed us! If, in a country theoretically organized under the rule of law, wrongdoers are never brought to justice, and no-one is held accountable for serious crimes, then you don't have to be a constitutional lawyer to know that our citizens actually exist in a post-legal state!