Posted on 02/07/2013 12:41:53 PM PST by Sir Napsalot
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: I really don't understand this sort of hysteria over the idea of killing Americans who have taken up arms against the United States. Thousands of Americans, Southerners, died in Antietam without any due process. When we stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-day, and Americans approached German bunkers, I don't think anybody asked if they were any German-Americans here, I want to read you the Miranda rights. If you take up arms against the United States you were a target because it was an act of war and you forfeited those rights.
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
The Hutaree were accused and arrested for being suspected of plotting against government.
All were acquitted.
Good thing the emperor can’t use drone strikes here......yet.
And yet, terrorists who come into this country in order to kill as many innocent people as possible need to be afforded rights out the wazoo.
*Twilight Zone Theme*
If someone takes up arms against this country, there should be a process to strip them of their citizenship. Then you can paint a target on their back.
I am gonna go with Krauthammer for bit. Here’s how: If I catch someone attacking my wife or daughter, I will not await due process. I think it is arguably analogous that if we catch someone in the act of attacking the US, they are a ‘combatant’ and are fair game for a Hellfire at that moment.
The Antietam analogy falls apart though because those folks were identifiablly combatants, actively at war.
Having written all this, I am confident this regime would apply the ‘logic’ of this argument in a twisted and evil way and would happily ‘drone’ someone who simply opposed or disagreed with them ... or was otherwise inconvenient. Stroke of the pen; law of the land.
He’s trying to protect and ensure his existence as a token disabled RINO appeaser with a misguided intellect. I put him in the same class as Obama.
Odd that he calls the potential actions of the oppressed illegal, particularly when is the basis on which this country was founded.
A despicable selfish worthless appeasing wonk.
Charles, you miss the point completely. Killing traitors is OK, even encouraged. It's the process of WHO decides WHO qualifies that bothers me. It's not a very far reach to envision the kenyan deciding that anyone who opposes him, or his policies, is worthy of a Hellfire missile.
A foreign usurper has set himself up as judge, jury and executioner, ignoring most of The Constitution and Bill of Rights. What's the difference between him and a dictator?
That precedent was set during the Bush Administration when it was decided that U.S. citizens identified as enemy combattants forfited their right to due process. They are past traitors. They are the enemy of this country engaged in war against us, and they will do harm to innocent Americans in any way they can whenever the opportunity arises. If you can capture them, then capture them. If you can kill them, then kill them. But whatever it takes, they have to be stopped. And those who wrung their hands over poor Jose Padilla and waterboarding, but who now defend airstrikes from drones are nothing but hypocrites.
There WAS process involved before a single rebel was shot in the Civil War. The entire government approved it. It wasn’t done with just a word from Lincoln.
I’m with Charles. If the ACLU and CodePink are up in arms, then I’m the opposite. Much prefer water-boarding tho.
When the government finally passes a total firearms ban, will refusal to surrender your guns be considered “taking up arms against the U.S.”?
Some of those killed were misidentified. You can’t say “sorry, we thought you were a traitor”.
Someone needs to tell Charles the difference is... when our troops stormed the beaches of Normandy, uniformed German soldiers were firing on them. There was no doubt — nor time to seek any — that our guys were facing unfriendly forces.
Contrast that to targeting of a purported enemy American in a safehouse in some foreign land. The “intelligence” data that identifies this individual is the brought to us by the same folks who did such a bang-up job predicting the attack on our consulate in Benghazi. Add to that.. the decision to turn this individual into a pink mist will be made by some unknown operative in the administration who will act as judge, jury and executioner. And let’s also not forget the POS in the White House is quite fond of stretching the extent of his powers.
Krauthammer’s comparisons don’t hold water, because the differences couldn’t be more stark.
I heard this piece by Krauthammer, but I think he partly missed the point. The loudest objection I know of is to the president arrogating to himself the ability to execute Americans abroad who, he thinks, are terrorists. No trial, no questions. The way Krauthammer phrases it, he assumes that the “people who have taken up arms against the U.S.” are proven to have done so. In fact, I’ve seen no evidence that this will be the case. The Nazis on D-Day are a straw argument, because there was no doubt they had taken up arms against us.
Krauthammer was right when he said the memo seemed to have been written by someone in the fifth quintile of their law class. As he analyzed it, “suspects are fair game for assassination when they are posing an imminent threat” + Al Qaeda members are a threat 24/7 = suspects can always be assassinated, making any conditional statements farcical.
Judge Napolitano said that even Lincoln placed the constraint that Confederates could only be killed in combat.
I wonder Charles did you clap with joy when you found out The FBI Sniper Lon Horiuchi (Manslaughter Man) was going for a twofer when they shot vicky Weaver in the head?
Did you scream with joy when OUR Federal government torched a compound in Waco, TX burning alive many children and women.
Some times Charles I think you studied pysch. to deal with your own demons.
Are you referring to the Confederate States being designated as a Belligerent Power?
We’re not talking about killing turncoat Americans as part of general warfare.
We’re talking about targeting specific individuals for assassination.
That’s a massive difference, and I’m surprised Krauthammer seems oblivious to it.
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