Assassin-in-Chief

National Review ^ | Nov. 1, 2010 | Kevin D. Williamson

[americanophile]

Here are two facts: (1) Anwar al-Awlaki is an American citizen and an al-Qaeda propagandist. (2) Pres. Barack Obama proposes to assassinate him. Between the first fact and the second falls the shadow.

The Awlaki case has led many conservatives into dangerous error, as has the War on Terror more generally. That conservatives are for the most part either offering mute consent or cheering as the Obama administration draws up a list of U.S. citizens to be assassinated suggests not only that have we gone awry in our thinking about national security, limitations on state power, and the role of the president in our republic, but also that we still do not understand all of the implications of our country’s confrontation with Islamic radicalism. The trauma of 9/11 has deposited far too much emotional residue upon our thinking, and the Awlaki case provides occasion for a necessary scouring. Contra present conservative dogma, the Constitution has relatively little to say about the role of the president in matters of what we now call national security, which is not synonymous with combat operations. What the Constitution says is this: “The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States.” That is all. Upon this sandy foundation, conservative security and legal thinkers have constructed a fortress of a presidency that is nearly unlimited or actually unlimited in its power to define and pursue national-security objectives. But a commander-in-chief is not a freelance warlord, and his titular powers do not extend over everything that touches upon national security.

[DuncanWaring]

The Constitution is also mute about what, precisely, constitutes "due process" in this particular situation.

No it isn't.

See Article III, Section 3:

Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.

Two witnesses, or a confession in open Court.

[cruise_missile]

I guess I missed the part where the U.S. actually declared war.

Barky Obama and his ilk have been calling this a man made disaster.

[davetex]

He decided to ride with a bad bunch.

He needed killing.

[jessduntno]

“Paultards are so far out of it there’s no sense mentioning them anymore.”

Yeah...that’s what I thought about Perot when the jug eared little freak turned out to be a cuckoo clock, I thought, to everyone’s view, but he still got enough of the votes to bless us with Clinton FOR EIGHT YEARS.

[marron]

Count me as being on board with the results.

I only wondered why it took so long to get him.

Now they need to get their hands on Adam Gadahn.

He is a leader of an enemy army. If they can arrest him, great. If not, he’s a target like every other Al Qaeda leader.

[Calusa]

He changes the rules on this daily just like he does on almost everything. And that is what is wrong with his leadership skills.

Bill Maher Cheers Murder of U.S. Citizen Awlaki, Favored Civilian Trial for 9/11 Mastermind KSM (Just last year) I'm looking for the post that gets the point that Nobel Peace Prize laureate Obama would exhume his beloved grandmother and blow her up from a Predator for political gain.What's one more or less AQ-tard!

[muawiyah]

If they engage in planning activities intended to kill Americans, sure ~

They should have been tried long ago.

One big difference is they didn't join AlQaida and they weren't running about in Yemen with AlQaida armed military personnel.

At the moment they are nearing retirement and aren't enough of a threat for anyone to worry about. You could send either one of them a subpoena in the mail and they'd respond. That wouldn't been likely with the AlQaida puke.

[muawiyah]

Facetious argument ~ there’s no prescribed manner for “declaring war”. You just do it ~ besides, it was AlQaida/Afghanistan that attacked us first.

[rmlew]

So the National Review supporter of illegal immigration believes that we should have captured Awlaki? He lives in an imaginary world where killing enemy leaders in war is assassination (it isn't) and where American citizens who have declared war on American can use their treason to protect themselves.
I happen to believe that if you declare war on America and help attack it, you lose any and all privileges protections and rights as an American. And so long as you operate on a foreign field and are involved in attacks on America, you will be treated like any other enemy combatant and leader. Had Al-Awlaki wanted to contest the charge and to act as an American, he had every chance to go to the American embassy in Yemen and turn himself in. Barring that, he could have reached out to the media or simply uploaded videos to youtube where he denounced Jihad against America and Americans and re-affirmed his loyalty to America. He did not do this, because he was at war with America. And he died an enemy of America. His status as a traitor should have a been a shield and he never used it as such.

Williams is not patriot, or a man with any sense of patria. He is an oikophobe with no sense of American history, or the law on this matter. I cannot phathom why someone calling himself "Americanophile" would post this, except in derision.

[freebilly]

Then how 'bout we actually declare one.

I'm with you on this....

[Cacique]

I’m not one to defend Obama however, due process for American citizens can only be in effect where the constitution of the United States is in effect. That is within the territory of the United States or where the sovereign authority of the United States is in effect. Our friend was in Yemen. The last time I looked they weren’t a state or territory of the United States. Thus the killing of a US citizen enemy combatant in Yemen violates nothing..

[cruise_missile]

Thanks for that. What a great irony of A Nobel Peace Prize winner uses missiles at the darkness of night without due process. To prosecute a war in a country he said we had no business in. To kill a fellow citizen. What irony.

What do you think of you little brown eyed boy now, Helsinki?

BTW. This should be a wedge issue with Barky and HIS base.

[marron]

You could send either one of them a subpoena in the mail and they'd respond.

Both Kerry and Fonda committed treason and ought to have been tried. As citizens they deserved that.

Had they remained in Hanoi, it would have been another story; had they acted as members of the Hanoi leadership (or had they taken up arms) they would have been legitimate battlefield targets.

Like Awlaki and Gadahn.

If Gadahn wants the protections his citizenship affords he needs to get away from other legitimate targets of war, and he needs to turn himself in for trial (if Justice wants to charge and try him). If he remains in the theater of war and remains in the company of declared enemies, and continues to act as one of them, he's a target.

[freebilly]

there’s no prescribed manner for “declaring war”.

I guess Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution doesn't exist....

[Billthedrill]

No it isn't.

I don't think treason is by any stretch of the imagination the only charge that applies here. Murder, for one.

[DJ MacWoW]

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[Alberta's Child]

The author's general point is a good one, but his basic premise is incorrect. I'm not so sure this guy was actually a U.S. citizen after all -- as evidenced by the fact that he apparently attended college here in the U.S. on a student visa from Yemen.

If he had been a U.S. citizen, he wouldn't have needed a visa to come here.

[Cyber Liberty]

I think this case fits that bill.

Well, except for all the public declarations and silly due process and stuff, I agree with you. But there haven't been any "public declarations" or "due process." Obama said one day he was gonna kill this varmint, then he went ahead and did it.

Are you OK with this?? How great a leap is it to decide he wants to kill some tea-party varmint in Idaho some time?

[cruise_missile]

Good point. The Tea Party is probably hated by some Leftinista’s as much as we hate terrorists.

[Alberta's Child]

Thank you for making an excellent point there, Kardinal. I referenced Jane Fonda on another thread on this topic earlier today or last night.