You can taste the irony that our Nobel Peace Prize-winning President has a Drone kill list of American citizens. Yet he does, and President Obama’s administration is running overtime in order defend this policy. NBC, surprisingly, broke the news.
A confidential Justice Department memo concludes that the U.S. government can order the killing of American citizens if they are believed to be “senior operational leaders” of al-Qaida or “an associated force” — even if there is no intelligence indicating they are engaged in an active plot to attack the U.S.
The 16-page memo, a copy of which was obtained by NBC News, provides new details about the legal reasoning behind one of the Obama administration’s most secretive and controversial polices: its dramatically increased use of drone strikes against al-Qaida suspects abroad, including those aimed at American citizens, such as the September 2011 strike in Yemen that killed alleged al-Qaida operatives Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan. Both were U.S. citizens who had never been indicted by the U.S. government nor charged with any crimes.
White House spokesperson Jay Carney defended the list:
But Carney said strikes against Americans overseas are sometimes “necessary to mitigate ongoing attacks.” The operations are “fully consistent with our Constitution,” he said.
“[The strikes] are legal, they are ethical and they are wise.”
Let me get this straight… the Administration opposes waterboarding, but they’re ok killing American citizens even without intelligence… even without knowledge of them being engaged in an active plot against the U.S.? They can be part of “an associated force” – what does that mean?
Does Jay Carney believe his own words? How in the world can an obvious violation of an American citizen’s due process rights under the 5th Amendment be considered “legal.” How is it ethical for us to target American citizens without any intelligence, you know – proof, that these American citizens (or even foreign nationals) are who the Administration says they are? Then to call this wise?
Congress needs to investigate this. This is unconscionable. It is unconstitutional. President Obama has failed in his duties to protect and defend the Constitutional of the United States – he’s openly violated it in one of the worst ways. If this isn’t grounds for impeachment, I don’t know what is.
