A Slippery Slope

[Mike]

Killing U. S. citizens without a trial. Can't imagine the outcry had this been Bush's AG statement:

By Peter Finn and Sari Horwitz, Published: March 5, 2012

The U.S. government has the right to order the killing of American citizens overseas if they are senior al-Qaeda leaders who pose an imminent terrorist threat and cannot reasonably be captured, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said Monday.

"Any decision to use lethal force against a United States citizen — even one intent on murdering Americans and who has become an operational leader of al-Qaeda in a foreign land — is among the gravest that government leaders can face," Holder said in a speech at Northwestern University's law school in Chicago. "The American people can be — and deserve to be — assured that actions taken in their defense are consistent with their values and their laws.

Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical cleric and one of the most influential al-Qaeda operatives wanted by the U.S., was killed in September in an airstrike in northern Yemen, authorities said.

The death of Osama bin Laden has not fully disabled his terrorist group. Here's a look at individuals deemed the most wanted terrorists in al-Qaeda.
Holder's discussion of lethal force against U.S. citizens did not mention any individual by name, but his address was clearly animated by the targeting of Anwar al-Awlaki, a senior figure in al-Qaeda's Yemeni affiliate. Awlaki, who was born in New Mexico, was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen in September.

Since that operation, the Obama administration has faced calls to explain the legal framework behind its decision to target Awlaki and to release at least portions of a classified memorandum by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel that contains its evidence, reasoning and conclusions.

Holder's speech represented the administration's most elaborate public explanation to date for targeted killings. And it followed a prolonged internal debate about how to inform the public about one of the most extraordinary decisions a government can take without explicitly acknowledging the ongoing classified drone program.

Among the most revealing parts of the speech was Holder's discussion of some of the factors the administration reviews before deciding that an individual represents an "imminent threat." He said the critical factors include the "relevant window of opportunity to act, the possible harm that missing the window would cause to civilians and the likelihood of heading off future disastrous attacks against the United States."

 

[Tam]

This is the first step to transforming the US into Obama's Kingdom where he and he alone can be the Judge Jury and Executioner of his citizens. I hope Awlaki's death sentence was not the test to see what the reaction of the masses will be. The support he has recieved from the killing of Bin Laden and Awlaki has enbolded him and there is no telling who will be next to recieve a death sentence without due process and what excuse he will be giving to justify it.


Obama is great at tossing out bombs and sitting back to see the reaction and if it seems no one notice the next bomb is bigger. If the reaction is noticable but not great he stays the course and moves ahead at a bit slower pace. It is only when the reaction is a fire fight that he retreats and goes about getting what he wants through the back door.

He said he was going to TRANSFORM the US when he was sworn in and he meant it. I just hope the Voters don't give him a chance to complete the TRANSFORMATION.

 

[hypocritexposer]

Well at least it doesn't cover killing American citizens within the US :?

FBI Director Robert Mueller on Wednesday said he would have to go back and check with the Department of Justice whether Attorney General Eric Holder's "three criteria" for the targeted killing of Americans also applied to Americans inside the U.S.

Pressed by House lawmakers about a recent speech in which Holder described the legal justification for assassination, Mueller, who was attending a hearing on his agency's budget, did not say without qualification that the three criteria could not be applied inside the U.S.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/03/07/mueller-have-to-check-with-holder-whether-targeted-killing-rule-is-outside-us/#ixzz1oUzLALbY

 

[Steve]

did not say without qualification that the three criteria could not be applied inside the U.S.

I saw the footage.. considering the topic, and the question.. I would think the head of the FBI would have had a better answer.. any answer.. .