3 ms·

I have no idea what the laws are around this. If the US military offers me, a civilian, $10,000 to murder some guy in Syria, and I do it, and it comes to light,

• varenc 8y ago
  Assuming you’re not actually in the military...if there was sufficient evidence I believe you could get prosecuted on your return to the US. The mercenaries in the article got UAE military ranks to avoid this. 18 U.S.C. §956 - “Conspiracy to kill, kidnap, maim, or injure persons or damage property in a foreign country” - https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/956 https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/956 Conversely, if you’re a foreign citizen but you murder a US citizen while abroad, that’s a crime in the US and you’d be jailed if they could ever get you here. 18 U.S.C. §1119 - “Foreign murder of United States nationals” - https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1119 https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1119
  • lacker 8y ago
    He'd get prosecuted in the US if the US military had hired him for something? That seems unlikely.
  • megous 8y ago
    He can also expect prosecution in the target country.
• jpatokal 8y ago
  The US military has plenty of professionals for this kind of thing. The grey area here is other countries hiring US civilians, particularly when they're notionally inducted into the other country's armed forces (= no longer civilians) and the murder happens in a theater of war.