[Meet the New Boss]

So the way the Slimes describes the “secret memo”:

Awlaki could be legally killed, if

(1) it was not feasible to capture him,

(2) because intelligence agencies said he was taking part in the war between the United States and Al Qaeda and posed a significant threat to Americans, and

(3) because Yemeni authorities were unable or unwilling to stop him.

The reasoning SHOULD have been even simpler:

(1) Was Awlaki part of a terrorist army that has explicitly declared and is conducting a war against the US? YES

(2) Was he attacked by a military strike in the field, meaning somewhere we and our military allies do not have effective dominion over? YES

End of story. It doesn’t matter whether he is a US citizen or not.

If you join a foreign army conducting a war against the US, you are subject to attack in the field just like any other member of that army.

But why not make the legal reasoning public? I can understand why the enhanced interrogation memo was secret, because we don’t want the bad guys to know what will be used against them.

But there is no reason for Zero and Holder to keep secret their legal analysis in this case.

[microgood]

Was Awlaki part of a terrorist army that has explicitly declared and is conducting a war against the US? YES

I think the whole issue here is who makes the determination that the allegations against someone are true? Is it 3 of 5 CIA Agents say yes or what? Hopefully they have a whole lot of documented evidence but there is no review by anyone outside the Executive Branch so theoritically Obama could kill his political opponents using this authority. Maybe it is not practical but since there no due process involved, it makes it kind of scary.