Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul greets guests at a house party Thursday, Sept. 29, 2011 in Derry, N.H. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)
Posted on 09/30/2011 10:12:21 AM PDT by ¢ommon ¢ents
GOFFSTOWN, N.H.–Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul condemned the U.S.-backed killing of al Qaeda figure and U.S. citizen Anwar al-Awlaki.
Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul greets guests at a house party Thursday, Sept. 29, 2011 in Derry, N.H. (AP Photo/Jim Cole) |
“Nobody knows if he ever killed anybody,” Mr. Paul said after a breakfast at Saint Anselm College’s New Hampshire Institute of Politics. “If the American people accept this blindly and casually…I think that’s sad.”
Mr. Awlaki, accused by the U.S. of planning al Qaeda attacks on U.S. citizens and recruiting terrorists, has been a longtime target of the U.S.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.wsj.com ...
I don’t have much use for Ron Paul, but I find it distressing how many FReepers are OK with this killing of a US citizen without due process.
You’re not sure that the federal government can kill any American citizen who has not even been charged in a court?!
Listen CL, that a-hole was about as American as OBL! Being born here should not be the only criteria for citizenship. We should abolish that rule. There is more to American citizenship than just happening to have been born somewhere called American territory. This man was an enemy of the U.S., simple as that.
Paultards think the proper way of handling the Pearl Harbor attack was to issue indictments on persons unknown making dive bombing, torpedo attacks and strafing runs on American warships and servicemen. Then, capturing some of them b through some unknown method that doesn't compromise their Constitution rights, use convictions against the "trigger-men" and plea bargains to work your way up to "Mr. Big". Yeah, that'd work.
Ron Paul and the Paultards should make the choice: sanity or insanity. So far Ron himself seems to be going with insanity.
Drone-mail. Citizenship revoked.
>Listen CL, that a-hole was about as American as OBL!
Perhaps, but the fact remains that OBL was a Saudi, this guy
was a US Citizen.
>Being born here should not be the only criteria for
>citizenship. We should abolish that rule. There is
>more to American citizenship than just happening to
>have been born somewhere called American territory.
Then amend the Constitution. In the mean time, it remains
the law of the land in its current state and was written by
minds much greater than yours or mine with the intent of
protecting its citizens from a tyrannical government.
>This man was an enemy of the U.S., simple as that.
Yes he was but he was deprived of due process.
Where will you draw the line? When Freepers are assassinated
for being enemies of the state?
Ron and the Paultards think the proper way of handling the Pearl Harbor attack was to issue indictments on persons unknown making dive bombing, torpedo attacks and strafing runs on American warships and servicemen. Then, capturing some of them through some unknown method that doesn't compromise their Constitution rights, use convictions against the "trigger-men" and plea bargains to work your way up to "Mr. Big". Yeah, that'd work.
Ron Paul and the Paultards should make the choice: sanity or insanity. So far Ron himself seems to be going with insanity. You have to make the same choice: sanity or insanity.
So
>We’re making war on him and his ilk.
Wow. So it’s ok for the US Government to make war on and kill its own citizens?
FWIW, I’m a Palinista.
His/their status was change from citizen to combatant...could happen to anyone (US citizen) due to Homeland Security.
Paul is correct
§ 1481. Loss of nationality by native-born or naturalized citizen; voluntary action; burden of proof; presumptions
(7) committing any act of treason against, or attempting by force to overthrow, or bearing arms against, the United States, violating or conspiring to violate any of the provisions of section 2383 of title 18, or willfully performing any act in violation of section 2385 of title 18, or violating section 2384 of title 18 by engaging in a conspiracy to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, if and when he is convicted thereof by a court martial or by a court of competent jurisdiction.
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode08/usc_sec_08_00001481——000-.html
I see. So his US Citizenship and protection under the US Constitution was revoked by Homeland Security? I didn’t know they could do that.
Can you demonstrate that this is the case?
Right, and if Hitler had survived to stand trial, his defense would have been "I neffer killed anyvun, I vas only giffing orders"!
No, it's not.
But in the case of this particular jackass it'd be good for the Ronulans amongst us to put aside their reflexive, zero-critical-thinking reactions and consider a few realities of planet Earth.
This latest particular AQ lump of charred meat may have been born here, but the facts are: (1) He was an active enemy with a long, self-admitted list of attacks on American targets. (2) For the better part of a decade, he had no interest in surrendering to legal warrants and stated contempt for the notion of turning himself in to stand trial in front of his peers, and (3)He has continued to plot attacks while hiding in a hostile area of a foreign country. I'm sure the list can be expanded.
By his actions, he was an enemy combatant by any reasonable standard. RP's standard on this issue IS NOT reasonable - it's madness. Awlaki richly deserved it, American by birth or not. To deny this as an adjunct to anyone's (including my own) well-deserved libertarian issues with the US Government is foolish. Should we have dispatched a chopper full of FBI agents to Yemen to go bring him in unharmed just to make it seem fairer or more "civilian"? I say no - not even close. This piece of garbage was not worth even the risk of one more drop of American blood.
Paraphrasing a great line I read about RP, "he's like a strange stopped coo-coo clock that's dead on accurate 23 hours a day, but at a certain Foreign Policy midnight he pops out, howls at the moon and smears himself with feces."
For the record, I hope Awlaki died screaming in agony. RP can suck it if he has a problem with that.
No. That's the primary reason for the second amendment, to remove such a government.
Wrong. He left the U.S. to avoid due process. Had he stayed, he'd have gotten it.
>Ronulans
Cute :)
>>So it’s ok for the US Government to make war on
>>and kill its own citizens?
>No, it’s not. But....
... but, but, but then you attempt to justify it.
Look, I have no problem with the fact that the scumbag is dead, only with how he got there.
I do have a problem with some alphabet agency of the US Government killing US Citizens without due process. This is a slippery slope...
Yeah, that's a concern. Especially for those of us who had our picture on the front of a notice to law enforcement from Homeland Security about radical right wing "potential domestic terrorists."
Razzz42 wrote:
His/their status was change from citizen to combatant...could happen to anyone (US citizen) due to Homeland Security.
I had a friend who is a cop (and pretty conservative) show me one of thoses, and I pointed out my wife and myself in the picture on the front cover. It was from the "Second Amendment Sisters rally backn on Mothers' day of 2000. There were probably 100 FReepers in the photo, many of whom I knew. (Yes, this is a new account, but I've been around here since 1998. Also changed accounts because my name was somewhat "dated," not because I got banned or anything).
On the other hand, this guy was sending people to "qualify" for their 72 virgins. I wonder if he's enjoying his 72 right now?
Do your own homework and prove to me that it can’t be done (being arrested as a combatant and being thrown in jail indefinitely).
No, not so much.
Look, if you think it's necessary to treat a man who has declared violent jihad on The American Devil (you and me both)and waged it from the badlands of Yemen as anything other than an enemy combatant, be my guest. Strap it on and go boots-on-the ground. Risk your life, the lives of your support crew, and the future welfare of your and your crew's family all for a Capital L Libertarian masturbatory confusion between "war" and "policing". I think it's a failure to see the forest for the trees.
This was and is a problem best solved by a (hopefully female) Reaper driver sitting in a nice air-contitioned trailer out in Nevada between sips of coffee. I hope she gets a commendation in her file.
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