Posted on 10/03/2011 10:32:55 AM PDT by Captain Kirk
The killing on Friday of Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen described as a powerful al-Qaeda terrorist, has stirred considerable debate about whether it's appropriate for a president to order an American assassinated.
Evidently, Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain shares those concerns.
The above video was recorded just after the first nationally televised GOP presidential debate of the 2012 campaign cycle, held in Greenville South Carolina on May 5 of this year, according to its YouTube page.
"He should be charged. And since he's an American citizen, he should be tried in our courts," Cain said of al-Awlaki. When asked if he considered it legal for President Obama to order al-Awlaki killed, Cain said, "In his case, no, because he's an American citizen."
It has been known since early 2010 that the CIA and the U.S. military's special-operations division maintain kill lists with three to four Americans on them. Al-Awlaki, a U.S.-born cleric, was on the list. He was reportedly killed in Yemen on Friday in a U.S. drone and jet strike. A classified Department of Justice memo authorized the killing, The Washington Post reported.
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
He should stick at running a Pizza company. Running for Presidency is way over his head. Are we seriously going to consider voting for someone to be President, the most powerful job in the world, when he has never ran for an elected office before? Wake up people.
Well, as one of the frontrunners (for the moment) Cain’s record and statements are going to be thoroughly examined, and a lot of this kind of stuff is going to come out.
If any of the other candidates consider him an actual threat, they are going to rip him apart over it because Cain is clearly wrong here. You know if someone is in agreement with Ron Paul and Gary Johnson on an issue of national security, that person is almost certainly 100% wrong.
I’m in the Cain camp but he’s wrong on this one.
I think it was the dumbest thing we could have done. We should have taken him alive, let him have a few weeks of meaningful interrogation (REAL interrogation, not just what’s your name, please sir) and then turned him over to sleep with the fishes. This guy was a goldmine. Killing him from the air was stupid.
I agree with Cain on this. Regardless of how you feel, however, it will be very interesting to see if he tries to back off from this or spins like crazy.
I differ with Cain on this one. ‘Course, I’m a big fan of 007’s “license to kill”.
Our whole concept of law and order is nice and works very well, but there is stuff that is played out outside that particular playing field all the time. If you get rounded up for robbing banks that the cops are “SURE” that you robbed, you still get your day in court. In the real world of “known terrorism” or other similarly wrongheaded activity, that sort of treatment of “rights of the accused” is way too complicated, messy and, too darned ineffective. You may want to be on the lookout for the presence of very expensive and very accurate missiles overhead.
And that is as it should be.
The common sense solution is to kill a terrorist enemy combatant no matter what the citizenship. American safety first. Herb’s been drifting a little.
Oh...he ran...He didn’t get past the primary.
He be dead , and I be glad.
No telling how many American lives will be saved with the death of this POS.
Nice try, Atlantic.
Cain would have to be dead for decades before his IQ would descend to that of the Cretin-in-Chief..
Add another millenia of so for his IQ to descend to that the writers and editors of your wimpy mag.
JFTR, Cain did run for Senate in 2004 but lost the primary to some RINO. Agree that he’s wilting under the spotlight, no suprise there.
Sorry to say Freepers but every American citizen, no matter how horrible they are, has the right to due process. No one person should have the right to summarily assasinate a US citizen. It’s a slippery slope, you give Obama a pass on this, then what else will he get free passes on. THis guy should have been captured and then afforded his day in court as is his right as an American.
Nice try? Er....um.....do you believe that the Atlantic lied about Cain’s views and/or doctored a youtube?
If an American fought along side the Japanese or Germans in WWII would they get shot?.....I hope so
Was taking him alive an option? If so, then I agree. If not, well, I shed no tears for that POS.
There is a reasonable argument to have on this issue, and targeting US citizens is a tough issue. If there ever is an exception, this is clearly it. He was a militant traitor.
This is not a clearly black and white issue, and is worthy of an adult discussion.
Joining with the terrorists was no different. The worthless bastard got his just deserts.
Not once he becomes an enemy combatant.
“No telling how many American lives will be saved with the death of this POS.”
No telling how many more if we knew what he had planned already with some assassin - BEFORE the other shoe dropped.- the evil this bastard might have planned before he died lives on. Would have been a GOOD thing to have dug it out of him...with a spoon.
With an election coming up? Not much chance of that.
Thanks for the info. Yet he is too delusional to think that he is going to win the nomination and the Presidency.
At least you establishment republican types are showing your true colors now.
What we need are more Herman Cains and less “elected to office before” types.
Maybe this guy got what he deserved but there were TWO U.S. citizens killed, not one, two.
There is a really simple answer to this problem. Do a trial in absentia (since he was in Yemen), there was plenty of eveidence, revoke his citizenship. Then take him out.
[ I agree with Cain on this. Regardless of how you feel, however, it will be very interesting to see if he tries to back off from this or spins like crazy. ]
I think there should be a standard that if you are living out of the country for X number of years and are in X organisation that is a Designated enemy you automatically “denounce your citizenship”, and thus are now a foreign national.
In a brief Q&A with our panel after his speech, Cain told the crowd that he fully supported Barack Obama’s decision to strike Anwar al-Awlaki.
And how many US troops lives are you willing to risk to get this SOB terrorist alive? I am so happy that he died the way he died.
The question to be asked is:How have we treated citizens or anchor babies
who have taken up arms against America since
the Revolutionary War ?
[ There is a really simple answer to this problem. Do a trial in absentia (since he was in Yemen), there was plenty of eveidence, revoke his citizenship. Then take him out. ]
NAILED IT!
Well, I see the Democrats’ “Divide and Conquer” strategy is roping a few dopes on our side.
We are suppposed to be smart enough to focus our attacks on the Idiot-in-Chief.
It makes me wonder if George Soros might have “bought” a few “Republican” campaign consultants who have been tasked with tricking Republcian candidates into assuming our famous circular firing squad formation.
You are correct, the other POS was the bomb maker for the underwear bomber.
I am really disappointed in Cain, his stupidity the last few days is breath taking. Good guy in so many respects.......
We ALL hate terrorist scum, but giving the US Govt the broad right to kill citizens abroad who they ACCUSE of terrorism is too much. Try the guy in absentia if you've got proof he's a terrorist; sentence him to death; then kill him.
Conservatives fear and loathe Government; Liberals want the Executive to have broad and unfettered power, including the power to kill its proclaimed enemies.
This issue has been turned on its ear here at FR.
Terrorist Awlaki was a traitor and therefore he was no longer a US citizen.
while killing this guy in yemen, who was a us citizen on A TECHNICALITY, is ok with me as far as he goes, I think people should be concerned about the precedent of the government deciding to kill US citizens. Would it have been ok for them to kill him inside the US?
Posters shouldn’t worry about hem killing muslims, they should worry about that DHS memo about who to watch out for (normal people military vets etc). Those are the people I worry about eventually being subject to administrative resolution down the line.
“Was taking him alive an option?”
Don’t see why not...we lit him up, so we knew where he was. He might have killed himself, but I doubt it. He was a “planner” not a warrior. These scummy bastards need to be turned inside out whenever possible...we got so much intel from Gitmo, it stands to reason that’s our best bet...but as the second half of my original post said...we drain his brain and then send him to the virgins, not let him loll around in Cuba. I think the air strikes are OK if they are the last resort, but nothing I’ve read has indicated it to be the only way to get him. Expediency is just not always the best bet, especially the way these tough guys squeal like pigs. Then kill em.
I am surprised that Reid and Pelosi are not calling for Obamas impeachment given the criticism they leveled at Bush just for ordering wiretaps of foreigners. Someone should explain why its not unconstitutional for the president to order the death of an American citizen without any due process at all.
I agree with Cain. If we go down this slippery slope of saying government can assasinate any citizen, without due process, what’s to stop a nefarious government from targeting tea partiers?
There could be a court and I would support one, but it would be a political minefield. Terrorists are essentially insurrectionists. I can envision the government presenting a case to the court with an invitation of said insurrectionist to turn themselves in for trial. The court could issue a warrant of sorts.
Man, that is some mighty flip flop in a matter of months.
Is that really the standard we want?
What is to keep Obama from declaring the Tea Party "enemy combatants"?
Run Sarah, Run. Please!
You either believe in the constitution or you don’t, cut and dried, when you take an oath to defend the constitution except for ? your on a very slippery slope.
We have a government right now, that sees the tea party as the enemies. That saw WACO as enemies. Do you not see where this kind of thinking leads?
Let’s stick to the Constitution, shall we?
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