Yes, oh the irony. Oh the PREDICTABLE irony. At least it's predictable if you aren't a crazy nut who thinks we can go it alone and make whatever rules we want and they apply only to other people. In other words, "conservative".

DEA?

U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency?

They have exactly WHAT to do with overseas weapons sales?

They have exactly WHAT power to enforce U.S. laws outside of U.S. Territory.

..little doubt of Bout's guilt..
..caught red handed selling surface to air missles..

Guilt under WHO's laws? And was he within the jurisdiction of said laws when the deal took place?

If it was not U.S. laws, and if it was not U.S. territory, then why isn't our Smart, Fearless Journalist asking why the U.S. DEA feels it has been empowered by the U.S. Constitution to enforce those laws?

That's a Really BIG question here, for me at least.
Much bigger than what arguments his lawyer is making about Gitmo.

From the longer MoJo account of his arrest linked to above:

"...after 9/11, changes to federal law provided the drug warriors with greater latitude to run overseas operations against non-American targets."

My guess is the "Patriot" Act or related legislation. Not that that makes it Constitutional or even rational, but that's my guess on the "what laws" part, and hardly a revelation--add it to the laundry list of ways in which Bush & Co. have explosively expanded the executive.

...add it to the laundry list of ways in which Bush & Co. have explosively expanded the executive.

Bush & Co., as you probably know, would include a big majority of the Repubs in Congress, and also an overwhelming majority of Dems. Only Democrat Russ Feingold had the guts to vote 'Nay' on this atrocity when originally considered in 2001.

Also noteworthy is the fact that the Senate could only muster 10 'Nay' votes on the reauthorization for such Extra-Territorial 'law enforcement' in 2006, and NONE of the 'Nay's came from Barack Obama. He's on the 'Yay' list.

In the House, the Dems managed to muster 62 'Nay' votes in 2001, with 145 voting among the 'Bush Fold'. The Repubs only 3, and one of whom was, of course, DR. NO, Ron Paul.

The '06 reauthorization in the House finally saw a Dem majority voting 'Nay', and the Repubs managed to increase their opposition to nearly 6% of their members, up from the 1.4% in 2001.

We've got a whole lot more people to blame for this than Republicans, just as we have a lot more people to blame for our overseas military interventionism. A majority of Democrats voted to give Bush what was obviously the 'Go-Ahead'. And a majority of the Dems (including B.H.O.) keep voting in favor of continued funding for Bush's occupations.

I think they should all be turned out of office on those two issues alone.