Extrajudicial execution = violation of due process and the rule of law...

On this matter, I still think that Germany thwarted due processes by blocking the extradition. Of course if Darkazanli had been murdered by the CIA, that would too have been more than a violation of due process. It would have been a criminal act. However, isn't plotting to murder/assassinate also a criminal act?

Assassination of an individual on the territory of a sovereign nation...

In my view, the CIA drone attacks in Pakistan are acts of war and according to the NY Times, the U.S. is expanding the use of drones in Pakistan.

... assassination of the citizens of another country is a casus belli with historical precedent (think WWI); the present situation might very well be conceivably construed as an act of war.

However, are you suggesting that if the Bush administration when through with their assassination plan in Germany, Germany would have seen it as an act of war?

Delegation of war-making powers to a private contractor: a can of worms in and of itself.

In the specific example in the diary, the private contractors were responsible for the training, not the actual operation according to the Vanity Fair article.