The reason to study history is to understand where we came from and to not repeat the same mistakes.
Under Henry VII in England, the government set up a separate court called the Court of the Star Chamber, to address issues that arose when people were not doing things that were technically illegal but which the government thought ought to be. This allowed the government to address problems with people who were outside the law, with people who might be undermining the authority of the king, and against people who were politically not accountable to the king, ie not subjects or commoners. Acts of the Star Chamber were secret with no indictments, no right of appeal, no juries, and no witnesses. In the Star Chamber the council could inflict multiple punishments and frequently sentenced people to the pillory, to whipping and to the cutting off of ears. Any punishment short of death. Of course they didn’t have Predator drones.
Now the deputy national security adviser for counterterrorism, newly appointed chief counter-terrorism czar John Brennan and his staff meet weekly with Presbo to make a list of targets. Information is gleaned from the State Department and other agencies, it is debated, and Mr. Brennan determines who shall be the target of Predators and raids and who will be assassinated. He is our new assasination czar. The Pentagon has been rendered irrelevant in determining any mission or objectives. This process has been going on for a month with virtually zero coverage by the press. The first Russian 24/7 English news station, Russia Today, called the Russian state-sponsered media irresponsible for neglecting to inform the Russian public about this. No word on who will hold the US media irresponsible for not bothering to report it to the American people.
The Star Chamber was perpetuated by the various kings even after they disbanded the parliament to serve as their own personal venue for fomenting their own personal terrorism. For 154 years. When the United States was set up, the history of the abuses of government power by the Star Chamber was one of the reasons for the protection of individual rights in the Bill of Rights of the Constitution.
Full circle.
