Over at Belchspeak, Pat has a link to a Reuters story outlining a secret committee in the Obama administration that operates loosely under the National Security Council, is answerable to apparently nobody but Obama, and has the power to advise on who Obama could/should murder with a drone strike using a capture-or-kill list of its own creation without advice or consent from anybody.
Though initially I was happy to see Anwar Al Alawki dead from a drone strike, since then I've become a little reticent regarding the realization that Obama ordered the murder of an American national without a shred of due process other than he incited others to be terrorists.
To a libertarian-leaning republican like me, this is chilling to say the least. I realize killing Alawki was wildly popular in a knee-jerk kind of way, but was it consistent with the Constitution?
16 comments:
"Libertarian-leaning republican?
Bwahaha!!!
Isaac, by that I merely meant that though I score as a libertarian pretty much down the line in my beliefs, I generally vote in presidential elections with the GOP, especially now when it's imperitive that Obama lose even if it means electing a moderate republican. In local elections, I'll vote libertarian every time if one is running.
Ed, Alawki was a self-proclaimed and active enemy - just like the American citizen Nazi saboteur we executed in WW2. He was no more deserving of any special protection that was Adm. Yamamoto in 1943 or any other enemy combattant. Alawki had American blood on his hands and desired much more. The Ft. Hood murderous traitor was his acolyte.
Don't go down the Ron Paul road - there lies lunacy.
Yamamoto wasn't an American citizen and I assume the Nazi saboteur actually committed sabotage as opposed to encouraging others to. I'm I glad Awlaki is dead? Sure, but I'm just not comfortable with the appearance of the lack of due process here. If he wasn't an American, I wouldn't give a shit.
I'm happy for us to kill all the foreign nationals whose deaths suit us. Who's on this capture/kill panel? To whom do they answer? What are their criteria for issuing a kill order? Are they civilians or military or a combination? Does congress have any oversight or is it staffed wholly at the discretion of the executive? Do you know the answers to any of these questions? Before any administration unilaterally issues standing kill orders on Americans without convicting them, even in absentia, of anything, maybe we should know who's overseeing this committee and how they arrive at their conclusions.
Like some aspects of the patriot act, this seems to be sort of a slippery slope when an executive can order the death of an American citizen without any criminal legal precession whatsoever as far as I know.
I think that in order to take away or ignor the rights of a citizen, you need to strip them of their citizenship. Charge them with treason, convict them, then blow them away. Don't skip the middle step.
That's all I'm saying, Ryan. And do it publicly as a deterrent to other would-be traitors.
What would you have done? Sent the FBI into the wilds of Yemen? Sheesh!
The Federal Govt. damn sure tried to kill my double-great grandfather in 1865. Was that OK?
I'm not suggesting we send domestic law enforcement into Yemen to kill bad guys. I'm saying how about a little due process before we kill an American citizen? Show me the law that authorizes the formation of an unaccountable committee that has the authority to place on a "kill" list, American citizens without even secretly convicting them of anything.
I had a nice long answer that blogger killed - I'm not going to write it again.
I was going to say the "suppress insurrection" clause gives the government the authority, as in the War Between the States, where citizens were mown down with Minie ball and canister shot with few legal protections.
Hard to argue Alawki wasn't in a state of insurrection against the US, and being in a foreign country would seem to provide no legitimate protection.
I'm not saying the guy didn't need to die, clearly that's the case....just that an unknown committee, overseen by the President alone, possessing the power of life and death doesn't sit all that well with me, whether it's Obama or Bush, or Reagan.
"Al-Qaeda has also criticized the Obama administration for killing U.S. citizens, saying doing so “contradicts” American law."
From a Washington Post story today.
Ed thanks again as always for the link to my site.
You know, our country does try citizens with crimes in absentia. He should have at least been tried in court, and if his sentence was death or capture, fine, blow him away.
Heh, the idea of the US Marshals operating drones to kill fugitives abroad just made me LOL
That's all I'm saying. Try him, convict him, and kill him.
And now we got this traitor's 21 year old son along with 8 other al-Qaida. A touching reunion in hell, I'm sure.
Keep it up!
There is no such place as hell thus, however much Bill wishes it (on others), there can be no reunion "in hell".
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