Eavesdrop on the phone calls of a U.S. citizen without court order? No.
Target a U.S. citizen for assassination without court order or trial? No problem!…
The Obama administration’s decision to authorize the killing by the Central Intelligence Agency of a terrorism suspect who is an American citizen has set off a debate over the legal and political limits of drone missile strikes, a mainstay of the campaign against terrorism.
…
To eavesdrop on the terrorism suspect who was added to the target list, the American-born radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who is hiding in Yemen, intelligence agencies would have to get a court warrant. But designating him for death, as C.I.A. officials did early this year with the approval of the National Security Council, required no judicial review.
…
To eavesdrop on the terrorism suspect who was added to the target list, the American-born radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who is hiding in Yemen, intelligence agencies would have to get a court warrant. But designating him for death, as C.I.A. officials did early this year with the approval of the National Security Council, required no judicial review.
“Congress has protected Awlaki’s cellphone calls,” said Vicki Divoll, a former C.I.A. lawyer who now teaches at the United States Naval Academy. “But it has not provided any protections for his life. That makes no sense.”
Not related, but here’s a news tip: a study out of Montgomery County, PA (a swing county in a swing state with a big population) reveals that the ’08 vote count was highly inaccurate.
http://electionreformnetwork.us/node/229
Ross, I hate to spoil your fun, but since the only two presidential candidates with any chance of winning in ’08 were both pro-war, pro-bailout, and anti-environment, what difference would an accurate vote count have made? The only possible outcome of the “election” was more wars, more bailouts, and more environmental destruction, no matter who won.
As for the decision to assassinate a U.S. citizen, the Supreme Court in it’s incontestable Divine Right, appointed by Presidents who themselves aren’t directly elected by the people, supports the right of those who appoint them to do whatever they wish, including the continuing right of Presidents to appoint Supreme Court justices.
Actually, the Supreme Court does not have Divine Right, as their edicts can be appealed to God (rather than being assumed to have come from God) by those who believe in God. For those of us who do not, there is no difference whatsoever.
Remind us Brad, isn’t it just 8 votes per precinct that need to be stolen (or 4 switched) to change a loss in a national election into a landslide win?
CharlieL –
Well, in the case of OH — if you believe the final results — just 6 votes per precinct for Kerry instead of Bush would have made the former President.
Mark E. Smith asked:
The difference is that the voice of the citizenry, however corrupted and/or disinformed that voice has become (thanks to the failures of corporate media), would have been respected.
While I appreciate you believe your “boycott” of the vote makes some kind of a difference — which is your right to believe — I believe that those voters who show up to exercise their right to vote should have their vote counted and counted accurately whether you like the way they voted or not.
Not that any of this has anything to do with the article at the top of this comment thread! (Thanks for that Ross! 😉 )
The US has long been exercising the right to drop bombs and kill or permanently maim countless civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and other places in the hopes of killing a terrorist target (typically missed). Did the New York Times report that fact much, offer profiles of civilians killed, the number of casualties, how many were permanently maimed or disfigured?
This could possibly be okay if there is no chance that you can accidentally kill an innocent person, but can they assure that. I don’t think so. It’s not right.
this is not ok…chances are very high that the “terrorist” is in fact an innocent person.
They do not need to produce any evidence before a judge, a jury, God, my aunt Jane….nobody. They just proclaim, “He bad man” and presto, he dead man.
Al-Alwaki, Joe Smith, Betty Jones, its all good, if we wanna kill, we kill, simple.
So, this American Citizen is allowed to be assasinated, no questions asked. Not even a hint of due process. Not a scintilla of the “evidence” against him made public or even shown to a judge. Our gov. is, and has been so very trustworthy that, “just because we say so” is plenty.
Oh, but not to worry, sufficient evidence has been fed to us through the media.
We are told he was in contact with Hasan, the alleged “Magic-Pistols Pete” of Ft. Hood fame. You remember the guy, surrounded by the best trained killers in our planets history kills 12 and wounds 31!! All by himself!! With only a couple sidearms!! We know this is rock solid evidence because of all the video we have seen of him diong the shooting, right? And the plethora of eye-witness testimony, remember seeing all those soldiers describing the attack on CNN, etc? No? Well, then you must be one of those malcontents….you probably can’t forget that in the first several hours following the shootings all the cable stations were reporting that there were multiplew shooters.
Then of course Al-Alwaki was also ministering to the infamous crotch bomber Abdulmutallab. And we know he was also presented as acting alone when clearly he was not. Who was the sharp dressed man at the boarding gate? When the little problem of no passport came up, our mysterious SDM says, “we do it all the time”…..well isn;t that comforting. Where are the security videos? What about the man filming the entire flight?
And it always struck me odd that this “dear in the headlights” cold blooded “terrorist’ was the son of Nigeria’s most powerful, wealthy banker.
Then of course we come to Shahzad, our third vicious killer inspired by the master mind Al- Alwaki. He spends 5 months training in Pakistan(we are told) only to come back and use the wrong kind of fertilizer and firecrackers in his “bomb”. Was he absent that day?
This crap would even be weak for a comic book.
We get to murder american citizens on THIS?
The entire war on terror is COMPLETE AND UTTER FABRICATION!
We need a peaceful revolution. We need 9/11 Truth
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/371...s-capitol_hill
Polls show swing towards Democrats. Not deserved, I dare say, but at least people are recognizing the batshit-crazy brand that is the contemporary Republican party.
Did you hear that officially the teapartiers have cast their lot with the Republican? Wonder how much that influenced this latest poll?
I freakin love that mock-up of Obusha…um, Bubama
This isn’t very new, and the bush/obama photo is just clever computerized artwork…nothing more. The US has long been exercising the right to protect it’s citizens. Given what just happened in NYC Times Square, we should be grateful for obama.
I’m not a big fan of this move. However the guy we’re going after is doing more than “free speech”- he’s sending scumbags after us with lousy weapons. We need to capture or kill this guy and any other al-qaeda lowlife.
The thing that strikes me as odd is that this is the only person we know about. You’d figure, if Obusa is really abusing this power, he would have 100 names on the capture or kill roster. But we know of only 1 so far. I’ll start to worry name #2 hits the press.
It’s hard to get civil liberties and voting rights front and center stage these days. Everybody’s too distracted with jobs- the lack thereof.
maybe we should capture and kill anyone who believes in the phony “war on teror”
To believe the public will ever know the true extent of the “capture or kill roster” is childish naievete in the extreme.
I bet there are more people seeking 9/11 truth on any such list than there are scairy muslim boogymen.
And who uses screen names like “Book Publisher”, “Discount Printing Services”….just wondering WTF? AgentX is also a moran.
When oil/natural resource extraction companies are using our military for their gain and profit, I gotta ask seriously…Who are the terrists? And my next question is what part of international wars/assassinations do people think is keeping them safer? The part that creates probably at least 50 more “terrists” for every civilian killed? And just when will our presidents start following the rule of law again?
I think this great video should update and include your pic topside:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nggyni6bee4
Ancient –
Thanks for the link to that video. A few years dated in once sense, but not dated at all in another. Thanks also for depressing me 🙂
Will keep it in mind to run for a slow, thinking weekender at some point perhaps…
Brad,
Is this a trick photo?
It is SO disturbing!
Or perhaps I’ve lost my mind.
It looked like Bush to me at every other glance.
I am ill.
Sadly, very apt.
But still makes me ill.