Posted on 07/09/2012 4:13:25 PM PDT by lbryce
In the August issue, Tom Junod examines an entirely new application of power on the part of the president — the targeted killing of individuals deemed to be threats to the country. So far, thousands have been killed, most prominent among them Osama bin Laden and Anwar al-Awlaki. The decisions to target are made and the lethal missions are carried out without any public accountability, even when those targeted are Americans and even when, on one occasion, one of those Americans was a teenager. Over the course of this week, Junod considers five of the larger implications of his story on The Politics Blog. —Eds.
He was just a boy.
Let's start there. He was an American boy, born in America. Though he'd lived in Yemen since he was about seven, he was still an American citizen, which should have made it harder for the United States to kill him.
It didn't.
It should at the very least have made it necessary for the United States to say why it killed him.
It didn't.
His name was Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, and he was 16 years old when he died — when he was killed by a drone strike in Yemen, by the light of the moon. He was the son of Anwar al-Awlaki, who was also born in America, who was also an American citizen, and who was killed by drone two weeks before his son was, along with another American citizen named Samir Khan. Of course, both Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan were, at the very least, traitors to their country — they had both gone to Yemen and taken up with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and al-Awlaki had proven himself an expert inciter of those with murderous designs against America and Americans:
(Excerpt) Read more at esquire.com ...
Cheers!
Sorry, but I have a hard time giving a damn about some America hating Muzzie who would gladly murder you and me and our children, even if he is an “American”.
Where does the POTUS get the power to assasinate 16 year old American citizens wanted for nothing? You people are freaking nuts if you think one person should have that power in the US.
“If any person or persons, owing allegiance to the United States of America, shall levy war against them, or shall adhere to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States, or elsewhere, and shall be thereof convicted on confession in open Court, or on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act of the treason whereof he or they shall stand indicted, such person or persons shall be adjudged guilty of treason against the United States, and SHALL SUFFER DEATH; and that if any person or persons, having knowledge of the commission of any of the treasons aforesaid, shall conceal, and not, as soon as may be, disclose and make known the same to the President of the United States, or some one of the Judges thereof, or to the President or Governor of a particular State, or some one of the Judges or Justices thereof, such person or persons, on conviction, shall be adjudged guilty of misprision of treason, and shall be imprisoned not exceeding seven years, and fined not exceeding one thousand dollars.”
He has kept our borders open to invasion by jihadists and WMDs. He has harassed and blocked state officias and the NYPD who have attempted to fulfill their duties to protect the people of their State via investigating jihadist organizations and individuals in New York.
I’m pretty sure that most if not all that read my post got my meaning that “traitor” as the Constitution defines it not how a Foreign born, American hating president defines it.
When one sows the wind, they should not complain when they and theirs reaps the whirlwind.
Many claim to passionately believe in constitutional rights, but for some only when it applies to their rights.
If constitutional protection is not applicable for all Americans, then there is no constitutional protection for any American.
If Obama had a son he would look like Abdulrahman.
What no one is commenting on that I find amazing is...
where is code Pink?? cindy Sheehan?
If this was Bush, this would be front page headlines in the NYT...”Bush lied, teenagers died.”
the Lib hypocrisy lives on!
If you believe in the White house insider stuff at all it is said that O picks the names of those who are going to killed by drone. After the attack then Video’s are delivered to him. He watches them over an over and is obsessed by them. Even his own people are freaked by it.
I understood what you meant. However, the guy with the killing power thinks differently than you and I. Which is why we can not afford to put so much power in a president’s hands.
Statists are inherently hypocritical bastards. Conservatives conserve nothing when they applaud the murder of US citizens because their father’s religion is one they don’t like.
Well said.
I have been with Free Republic since 1998, when I posted on my husband's account. I have seen posters with lots of good sense, and posters who were borderline morons. But I have never, until now, seen FReepers who openly supported a leftist tyrant's prerogative to kill anybody he chooses.
agree.
Perhaps you think muslim terroists should be left alone?
that’s right but noly if the government is at war with us. Are you suggestung that the government has decided to kill citizens on its own soil that have done nothing? I think not. A muslim terroist gets what he deserves. If you equate me with that shame on you. Your logic leads to pacifism... we shouldn’t hurt anyone
If yiu trust no man with the power to deal with traitors then surrender now. Apparently you do np think there is anything such as war. Your time in the gulag ought to be enjoyable... no one fights there
Good point.
So who else should due process be suspended for?
Add me to the agree list.
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