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Originally posted by enlightenment06
Thanks AlphaSigOU!
But weren't Saddam and his ilk in power when the war started?
At this point it doesn't look like anyone has claim to national power in Iraq.
In any case the recent actions are violations of the executive order. Is it possible for a president to violate an executive order? Does he have to repeal it first or issue a new one? Anybody know?
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If i remember correctly, the executive order may have been modified recently in light of the recent terrorist attacks. Political assassinations just to bring in a 'regime change' more suitable to US interests in peacetime are still prohibited.
However, the justification for the US and coalition forces to invade Iraq by force stems from UN resolutions; Iraq violated several UN resolutions enacted after Gulf War I regarding inspection and disposal of weapons of mass destruction.
Examples of political assassinations and other actions that are now prohibited by EO 12333:
- the assassination attempt and coup d'etat that brought down Iranian president Mossadegh and installed the Shah of Iran in 1956.
- the coup d'etat in Guatemala in 1956.
- the coup d'etat and assassination of South Vietnamese president Ngo Dinh Diem in 1963.
- the coup d'etat of Chilean president Salvador Allende in 1973.
Declassified CIA documents and other investigations revealed CIA complicity in the above events.