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 ...
I think you make some excellent points there. This could get dirty, what is funny to me is we can’t tortue, but assasinate we can. how odd
Although there are trials in absentia in the USA, they are when the accused has fled AFTER the trial has commenced - thus voluntarily waiving their right to confront their accusers.
Trials in absentia for wanted fugitives is Unconstitutional - and a much more dangerous step than the wartime killing of an enemy combatant who held U.S. citizenship.
The hypocrisy is what bothers me. I am glad Cheney said what he did. Obama DOES owe the Bush administration an apology.
We did not waterboard him. We did not make him stand with a hood over his head. We did not shoot a gun off near his ear to get him to talk. We did not send him to a secret jail in a country which allowed torture. We did not even try to capture him.
We simply annihilated him. We vaporized him. Anwar al-Awlaki is no more He is makin’ bacon with his butt ugly virgins.
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed has been a guest at Gitmo for five years. The evidence against him is damning (to say the least). Holder wanted to try him in an American court. They had to walk back on that decision. Yet he sits in Gitmo on our time & dime.
Are you really that stupid to think that an American President would kill members of the political opposition because members of his party said that they are terrorists? There is a huge difference between stupid rhetoric of calling political opposition terrorists and someone who is actually a terrorist such as Anwar Al Awlaki.
He’s got the power to drop charges against Black Panthers who intimidate voters. Got the power to go to War in Libya without Congress’s approval. But he can’t kill a terrorist who wants to kill Americans. Gotta keep it consistent and the President’s doing that.
The Congressional declaration in September of 2001 was pretty clear and pretty open ended.
If anyone is stupid enough to call themselves “Al Queda” the American President can (and should) kill them without any regard to their citizenship status, under that Congressional resolution.
I agree w/ Cain thoroughly. I don’t want the executive branch to push the boundaries of its powers in this way and set a new and dangerous precedence for our future. I don’t want MY RIGHTS as an American citizen under the Constitution to be subverted and trampled....even for the pleasure of witnessing the killing of a jihadist.
Well, since yesterday and after learning and reading more about Cain, there is one thing I have to say: IT AIN’T CAIN .
Thank you for confirming your status as a completely mindless idiot.
No telling how many American lives would have been saved if this POS was captured, interrogated, tried, and convicted.
Are we seriously going to consider dealing with questions raised by someone who signed up for this forum less than two weeks ago?
The answer in both cases is in the affirmative, by the way.
However, Cain was a candidate for US Senator, so he doesn't fit the mold, in any event.
Exactly...
Wouldn’t it be the same type of thing on a smaller scale,
if someone attacks me in my home - I wouldn’t read them
Miranda rights - the warning and the attacker would be
blasted right out the window...
I would like to know the limits, and who gets to decide. What is to keep them from blowing up Rush Limbaugh when he is out of the country, charging him with right-wing terrorism? What must the target have done, and what information must we have about it, before this can be done? I think in Awlaki’s case, it was justified, but the parameters ought to be narrow when the target is not in the battlefield, but sitting in a house in a city in a country that is not at war with us.
We are not at war with Yemen. Al Queda is not a branch of the Yemen military. In fact Yemen had already tried and convicted him in-absentia as a bad dude of the gang Al Queda.
Thanks for joining FR Now you can go back to DU jgge Since Sep 21, 2011
with your rage and irascibility.
If you hunt him down and target him after the crime is committed you will pay the price - as is appropriate.
That's what I was talking about. A bit tired this morning not presenting clear thoughts. I don't think you need to revoke the citizenship just declare them insurrectionists.
I wish more FReepers were paying attention enough to understand the importance of what you just wrote. This is the way it's supposed to work. What Obama did was assassinate an American citizen.
Who's next, the Christians who refuse to side against Israel when Obama decides that Israel needs to give up part of Jerusalem?
Yes, this guy had it coming but it should have been decided in a Court of Law. Yemen isn't even a theater of war for crying out loud, so you can't even make the case that this guy was on the front lines. Furthermore, technically speaking, for this guy to have been a traitor, we have to be in an actual war. When was war declared and what opponent nation did this jackwagon join?
Sorry guys, I want him as dead as the rest of you but his status as an American citizen complicates matters.
Either the Constitution applies to all of us or it doesn't apply at all.
It’s no big deal. You’re not going to agree with Cain on everything. I happen to agree with Cain on this one but there are other things I don’t.
He’s my pick because he’s the one who lines up most closely with my views. I believe he has the best plan and background to turn things around. I also like that he has his own opinions and is not in lockstep with anyone. Often that includes thinking outside the box and outside the establishment. I think we need that. I also believe he is our best bet to beat Obama. So, I’m okay with disagreeing with him here and there.
I have a much bigger problem if he’d said he would not have taken out Bin Laden.
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