Unlike the Left, who could never give Bush any kudos or credit, even when he was pushing things they like (such as the shamnesty), we can give Obama credit where credit is due
The Obama administration on Saturday invoked the state secrets privilege which would kill a lawsuit on behalf of U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, an alleged terrorist said to be targeted for assassination under a U.S. government program.
In a court filing, the Justice Department said that the issues in the case are for the executive branch of government to decide rather than the courts.
The department also said the case entails information that is protected by the military and state secrets privilege.
Good for them. Al-Awlaki is a scumbag terrorist and a traitor: once a citizen joins a group which has declared a fatwa against the USA and has attacked America and her citizens, they give up their constitutional rights, at least while on foreign soil. If scumbag landed on American soil, yeah, he would have to be accorded Constitutional Rights. While he is hanging with al Qaeda in Yemen, heck no. The DoJ has even said so, as has the Obama administration.
The lawsuit filed on the cleric’s behalf (by the Center for Constitutional Rights and the ACLU) seeks to have a court declare that the Constitution and international law bar the government from carrying out targeted killings; seeks to block the targeted killing of al-Awlaki; and seeks to force the U.S. government to disclose the standards for determining whether U.S. citizens can be targeted for death.
The thing is, the order is not simply for targeted killing: it is a capture or kill order for high value terrorists, much like the old West “dead or alive” posters put out specifically against certain criminals. If al-Awlaki can be captured, they would surely love to do just that, and wring every bit of knowledge out of him (I bet they would use rendition and the “torture” methods the Bush admin used, too). Barring that, if they can kill him, they will. He is an extreme danger to America and the rest of the world.
Obviously, many on the left have a problem with this.
Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU. Re-Change 2010!
You know Teach, I was against this for a while, or ambivalent about it. But when you brought up the argument on the “dead or alive” wanted posters, ….. yeah, right.
There are people by their very actions have placed themselves as high profile targets for quick removal .. for the sake of public safety.
Besides, wars are also a different beast altogether. There is nothing wrong with targeting the enemies leaders. Our first president did just that with his snipers.
If he somehow got on American soil, then the scumsucker would have to be given his constitutional Rights, but, yeah, the left overdid it with their “targetted killing talk,” because the order basically places al-Awlaki as a key figure every soldier/intell officer needs to watch out for, and either capture or kill, the same as Saddam, Zawahiri, Bin Laden, Zarqawi, Adam Ghadan, etc.
[…] Obama Gets One Right: Seeks To Dismiss Targeted Killing Lawsuit … […]
I’m still against this. Obama is now saying that this is not even subject to judicial review.
Do I think this scumwad should die? Yes. Do I want to allow Obama to have the power to declare an American guilty and condemn him to death with no due process, and without even the possibility of judicial review?
If that doesn’t scare you, then you must think higher of our politicians than I do.