The due-process-free assassination of U.S. citizens is now reality
Without a shred of due process, far from any battlefield, President Obama succeeds in killing Anwar al-Awlaki
Glenn Greenwald
Salon, 30 September 2011
The US Assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki and the Blurring of Bright Lines
E. D. Kain
Forbes, 30 September 2011
The Obama administration has demonstrated once again, as it did in Libya and as it’s done in a variety of surveillance cases, that its view of executive power in the arena of national security is hardly any less expansive than Dick Cheney’s was. The fact that this was predictable makes it no less alarming.
Presidential candidate, sans helmet, treks through East Concord.
Tony Schinella
Concord Patch, 30 September 2011
Before riding, Paul was cornered by WHDH-TV Andy Hiller out of Boston, who questioned the candidate about the death of AnWar al-Awlaki, who was recently killed in Yemen. Hiller asked why Paul was labeling the death “an assassination” instead of a killing.
Paul said the important distinction was that al-Awlaki was an American citizen who, despite his alleged connections to al-Qaeda and terrorist activities, should not have been killed but, instead, brought to justice and tried in a court. He noted that the government didn’t assassinate Timothy McVeigh after he was accused of a terrorist attack. Paul said McVeigh was someone who “killed a lot of people” adding that he was “much more dangerous” and yet, was allowed a trial. Paul said it was about preserving the rule of law.
Kevin D. Williamson
National Review, 30 September 2011
3. According to the standards set by the Obama administration, the things that can get one designated an enemy combatant — designated by the legally unimpeded military in the course of any campaign, legitimate or otherwise, the president has unjusticiable and legally unlimited power to initiate — include making speeches and publishing magazine articles. As VDH notes below, Awlaki was considered dangerous largely because of his linguistic ability and his social-media savvy.
4. Which adds up to: The president can order the death of Andrew C. McCarthy, David French, or Kevin D. Williamson for writing a magazine article, and if the American people don’t like that, they can wait until November 2012.
By Chris Hedges
Truthdig, 29 September, 2011
There are no excuses left. Either you join the revolt taking place on Wall Street and in the financial districts of other cities across the country or you stand on the wrong side of history. Either you obstruct, in the only form left to us, which is civil disobedience, the plundering by the criminal class on Wall Street and accelerated destruction of the ecosystem that sustains the human species, or become the passive enabler of a monstrous evil. Either you taste, feel and smell the intoxication of freedom and revolt or sink into the miasma of despair and apathy. Either you are a rebel or a slave.
See Also:
Does U.S. have the right to target and kill its citizens?
Anwar Awlaki's killing: Why it doesn't feel like a victory [The conversation]
How Does the President Have the Right to Target for Killing a US Citizen?
G.I. Wilson: Killer Drones, Moral Disengagement, + War Crimes RECAP
Noam Chomsky: The Costs of War
Phi Beta Iota: We suspect that the majority of US citizens share our revulsion for this turn of events. In our view, given that no conservative Republican candidate for President could possibly muster the gumption to challenge this treason against the Constitution, this opens the way for Ron Paul or Gary Johnson to be the only electable Republicans–or to run with Ralph Nader and a Coalition Cabinet as Independents. As Chris Hedges points out, in the face of illegitimate tyranny, one can be a rebel, or a slave. Do such thoughts elect those associated with Phi Beta Iota for assassination? That is the logical encore to this despicable, unconstitutional act in which every flag officer, every staff officer, every enlisted person enabling this act should be held accountable for committing not just a war crime, but treason. Impeachable treason.
PRACTICAL POINTS:
1) Drone program is out of control. It has become CIA's “growth” business and there is evidence that CIA has on more than one occasion violated Presidential restraints and exceeded–by large margins–what can be contrued as legal, ethical, and authorized.
2) While CIA thrives on the “metrics” of kills, these are stupid metrics. The counter-narrative, the ease with which individuals are replaced, the financial and moral disengagement cost, all suggest that the public would be better served by shutting down CIA.
3) There is no legal basis for the murder of this US citizen. Completely apart from the Constitutional violation and the lack of due process, the raw fact is that the Administration cannot produce a substantive legal finding. They refused to honor the father's challenge before the Court, and they cannot produce a serious memorandum now. Being a blogger hostile to war crimes being committed by the US Government “in our name” qualifies, among others, every libertarian and intelligence left blogger (all fifteen of them) for immediate assassination.
See Also:
Articles of Impeachment (for Libya)
