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The Killing of al-Awlaki and the Death of the Fifth Amendment
American Thinker ^ | 10/08/2011 | Jonathan Kinlay

Posted on 10/09/2011 9:48:41 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution is unequivocal: no American shall "be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." No amount of ducking and diving will evade the inescapable fact that, for the first time, U.S. military officials in an aggressive overreach of constitutional authority deliberately targeted an American citizen for killing. And no amount of legalistic wordplay will alter the reality that al-Awlaki was denied due process.

(No, Mr Gingrich, the signing of a death warrant by an American President does not constitute "due process," except perhaps in North Korea or Iran. Our Founding Fathers taught us better than that.)

Al-Awlaki was an acknowledged "bad guy" who incited, trained, and prepared others to commit heinous terrorist crimes designed to inflict death and injury upon his fellow countrymen. He was, assuredly, our self-confessed enemy, and he fully deserved to die -- but not without due process. We don't sanction the use of government hit squads to assassinate U.S. citizens who are responsible for the most unspeakable crimes. We don't do it even when they admit to those crimes. Instead we invoke the moral authority of Constitution to insist on their right to due process, even in cases where the accused is unwilling to offer any defense. Only when due process has been exhausted and the accused is found guilty do we have the moral authority to invoke the ultimate punishment.

The reason for this important Constitutional safeguard is self-evident. In the words of Jameel Jaffer, the deputy legal director of the ACLU:

The government's power to use lethal force against its own citizens should be strictly limited to circumstances in which the threat of life is concrete and specific, and also imminent.

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: alawlaki; constitution; fifthamendment
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To: GreenLanternCorps
However, while at large he is a functioning enemy of the United States and was treated as such.

Then the 0bummer administration just played a pointless game of finding Constitutional authority in using a secret panel to determine the legality of killing him?

21 posted on 10/09/2011 10:26:14 AM PDT by TigersEye (Life is about choices. Your choices. Make good ones.)
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To: TigersEye

Well, his citizenship has been renounced now.


22 posted on 10/09/2011 10:26:35 AM PDT by ilovesarah2012
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To: ilovesarah2012

LOL


23 posted on 10/09/2011 10:28:21 AM PDT by TigersEye (Life is about choices. Your choices. Make good ones.)
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To: TigersEye

Sorry - I thought I was replying to another post on another thread.


24 posted on 10/09/2011 10:28:40 AM PDT by ilovesarah2012
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To: GreenLanternCorps
Mr. Alwaki was functioning as an officer, commander, and propagandist for Al Queda, an organization in a state of war with the United States. By doing so he becomes a legitimate military target. Had he been captured, he could have been tried, convicted, and executed by the civil court system. However, while at large he is a functioning enemy of the United States and was treated as such.

Let's consider the case of Benedict Arnold.

After his plot failed, Arnold fled to British lines, was given the rank of Brigadier General and then led a British attack upon Virginia that captured Richmond.

Think of the ridiculous situation that "citizens can only be captured for trial" would result in:

Benedict Arnold is in camp. A local Virginia sniper knows a way to infiltrate close enough to the enemy camp to take a shot and kill Arnold. However, the sniper is told that he is not allowed to shoot at Arnold since Arnold cannot not be legally killed. However, the sniper can try to capture Arnold from within the enemy camp and bring him back for trial.

Arnold then stays in command of an enemy army that is waging war against Virginia.

Enemy combatants in command and control are legitimate targets of opportunity regardless of citizenship, past or present.

25 posted on 10/09/2011 10:33:49 AM PDT by Polybius (Defeating Obama should be Priority Number One.)
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To: ilovesarah2012

I was there too! lol


26 posted on 10/09/2011 10:34:57 AM PDT by TigersEye (Life is about choices. Your choices. Make good ones.)
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To: Polybius
Enemy combatants in command and control are legitimate targets of opportunity regardless of citizenship, past or present.

Sounds good, sounds reasonable.

Why did the 0bummer administration play games finding a way to Constitutionally justify killing him?

27 posted on 10/09/2011 10:37:45 AM PDT by TigersEye (Life is about choices. Your choices. Make good ones.)
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To: Polybius

Cain lays claim to never have been a politician but he is learning fast to become an accomplished one.


28 posted on 10/09/2011 10:38:56 AM PDT by 353FMG (Liberalism is Satan's handiwork.)
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To: GreenLanternCorps
Mr. Alwaki was functioning as an officer, commander, and propagandist for Al Queda, an organization in a state of war with the United States.

As defined by? Well, we say so. The same people who knew he was a moderate a few years ago.

The proof? That's secret.

Trust us.

29 posted on 10/09/2011 10:43:06 AM PDT by Forgotten Amendments (Days .... Weeks ..... Months .....)
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To: GreenLanternCorps

If what you say is true, there would be a public declaration of war by the US government. Where is it?


30 posted on 10/09/2011 10:46:28 AM PDT by notdownwidems (Vote Republican! We're 1/10 of 1% better than the other guys!)
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To: Forgotten Amendments

That reminds me; 0bama told La Raza that he wanted to punish his enemies. I wonder if it’s a secret who his enemies are and how he wants to punish them? Only the panel knows!


31 posted on 10/09/2011 10:47:37 AM PDT by TigersEye (Life is about choices. Your choices. Make good ones.)
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To: SeekAndFind

If al-Alwaliki wanted the protection afforded to him by the Constitution he should have turned himself in. Then he most certainly would been afforded due process.


32 posted on 10/09/2011 10:50:21 AM PDT by VeniVidiVici ("Si, se gimme!")
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To: SeekAndFind

They’re wrong. American citizens who take up arms against America in “aid and comfort” to our enemies can by act of congress (which exists for the WoT), be treated as enemy combatants.

A grand example of this is found in the trial of the Nazi saboteurs, six of which were eventually hanged.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=317&invol=1

Even though only one could have claimed American citizenship, at the bottom of Supreme Court case are cited several examples of Confederate officers who were executed by order of *military tribunals* for espionage during the US Civil War, though the Union most definitely *did not* declare war against the Confederacy, in that war can only be declared by one nation against another nation, and the Union did not want to recognize the Confederacy as a nation.


33 posted on 10/09/2011 10:52:40 AM PDT by yefragetuwrabrumuy
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To: TigersEye
Enemy combatants in command and control are legitimate targets of opportunity regardless of citizenship, past or present. .... Polybius

Sounds good, sounds reasonable. Why did the 0bummer administration play games finding a way to Constitutionally justify killing him? ... TigersEye

Why do dogs love to roll around in road kill and eat other dog's cr@p?

A dog is a dog. Obama is Obama.

Ronald Reagan would have done it, said that the SOB was waging war and then pointed out that nobody was "arrested" at Gettysburg.


34 posted on 10/09/2011 10:56:04 AM PDT by Polybius (Defeating Obama should be Priority Number One.)
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To: Polybius
Very poor analogy.

Benedict Arnold was never a U.S. citizen. The raid on Richmond took place in the winter of 1780-81, which was seven years before the U.S. constitution was ratified. He was a British subject and later a resident of Canada until the day he died.

I've got no love lost for this al-Awlaki guy, but if he was a U.S. citizen (I'm still not sure he was, in light of the fact that he attended college here in the U.S. on a student visa) then the manner of his demise should be disturbing to any self-proclaimed conservative on this site. I have yet to see anything in any media outlet that indicates exactly what rendered him a legitimate military target in a country that is not involved in a military campaign against the U.S.

Even aside from the lack of any due process in this case, what exactly were the charges against this guy?

35 posted on 10/09/2011 10:56:43 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("If you touch my junk, I'm gonna have you arrested.")
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To: Polybius
Ronald Reagan would have done it, said that the SOB was waging war and then pointed out that nobody was "arrested" at Gettysburg.

IOWs 0bama did violate the Constitution.

36 posted on 10/09/2011 11:00:58 AM PDT by TigersEye (Life is about choices. Your choices. Make good ones.)
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To: TigersEye
Got a source for that?

My understanding is he publicly renounced his citizenship more than once. While that is not the same as formally renouncing it, it's good enough for me and the vast majority of Americans.

Any American who goes off and joins up with terrorists to plot, plan and encourage attacks on the US effectively makes them an enemy combatant open to US military attack. Sitting around trying to pick out the idiots that had/have US citizenship is to live in a world of theory and fantasy. The war on terror is just that, a war - not a police action.

37 posted on 10/09/2011 11:01:43 AM PDT by Longbow1969
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To: Paleo Conservative
What's outrageous is that Alwaki should be presumed to have US citizen just because his parents were temporarily living in the US when he was born.

Bears repeating. Just think, we could have an anchor baby get elected to POTUS someday.

38 posted on 10/09/2011 11:03:20 AM PDT by Las Vegas Ron (Rush Limbaugh = the Beethoven of talk radio)
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To: notdownwidems

Here:

http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/terrorism/sjres23.enr.html

The authorization for the use of force against those involved in the 9/11 attacks is a declaration of war in all but name. It satisfies the constitutional requirements of a declaration of war.


39 posted on 10/09/2011 11:03:46 AM PDT by GreenLanternCorps ("Barack Obama" is Swahili for "Jimmy Carter".)
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To: Longbow1969

Thanks. I was just looking for a source because I hadn’t heard that before. But you’re right, according to statute only a formal revocation of citizenship is legally recognized.


40 posted on 10/09/2011 11:06:00 AM PDT by TigersEye (Life is about choices. Your choices. Make good ones.)
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