I thought this deserved a stand-alone post rather than an adder to the previous post on al-Awlaki
(ACLU Statement) U.S. airstrikes in Yemen today killed Anwar Al-Aulaqi, an American citizen who has never been charged with any crime.
ACLU Deputy Legal Director Jameel Jaffer said, “The targeted killing program violates both U.S. and international law. As we’ve seen today, this is a program under which American citizens far from any battlefield can be executed by their own government without judicial process, and on the basis of standards and evidence that are kept secret not just from the public but from the courts. The government’s authority to use lethal force against its own citizens should be limited to circumstances in which the threat to life is concrete, specific and imminent. It is a mistake to invest the President – any President – with the unreviewable power to kill any American whom he deems to present a threat to the country.”
ACLU National Security Project Litigation Director Ben Wizner said, “Outside the theater of war, the use of lethal force is lawful only as a last resort to counter an imminent threat of deadly attack. Based on the administration’s public statements, the program that the President has authorized is far more sweeping. If the Constitution means anything, it surely means that the President does not have unreviewable authority to summarily execute any American whom he concludes is an enemy of the state.”
The ACLU – protecting Islamic terrorists over law abiding American citizens.
Was the killing Constitutional or not? That’s a question worth answering.
Yes, it was Constitutional.
Good, because I have complete faith in Obama deciding who lives and who dies.
I have a problem with this. If we have a bad guy in Yemen, then we should be able to demand surrender of the man. If the country does not comply, then the country is dealt with. In this case, we are talking about an American citizen and I don’t think the Constitution supports killing without due process. I might remind you that the Obama administration considers rednecks, like me, to be as dangerous as any Muslim. So, I agree with Paul’s position.
the targeted killing of american citizens is a dark dangerous path to be on. Where does it end? Right now, we say.. its ok cuz he’s on foreign soil. Will it some day be OK, if he sneaks in to America? We find him in Cleveland and just decide to snuff him out on the street?
What if he was in Mexico? Or Canada? Is that ok?
Citizenship has to mean something.
Yes, I know the argument is that he turned his back on his country and thus his citizenship should be negated. But that to me sounds like a LEGAL ISSUE.
Are we OK with the military deciding which American citizen is bad enough to take out with a missile?
Now, if the bad guys are non-US citizens… NUKE THE BASTARDS!!!