Iranian Al Quds has been experimenting extensively with drones. So have Hamas, Hezbollah and Al Qaeda operatives and wannabes. Keep alert! (see my tag line)
“I can find no way around the thicket of laws and precedents that effectively allow the executive branch of our government to proclaim as perfectly lawful certain actions that seem on their face incompatible with our Constitution and laws while keeping the reasons for their conclusion a secret,”
So what, exactly, will keep Barry and Holder from bringing the drone war back home to deploy against perceived enemies foreign and domestic inside US borders? For example, those opposed to seizure of emergency powers imposed if the budget ceiling isn’t raised by Congress “in time of war.”
Not too long ago, I’d have thought this happening in 2013 was just the plot of a paranoid Oliver Stone movie.
What a lousy report by the Slimes (precisely as they intended).
What a judicial farce. She denounced the government’s arguments as inadequate, and then ruled in their favor. And over what? Oh, you know, just some trivial things... like letting the government kill citizens without trial, explanation or admittance, from the sky, with high explosives.
The judge’s ruling is absurd, and all of her hand-waving doesn’t mask the stunning dismissal of Constitutional due process protections she just rubber-stamped, while literally justifying her ruling BY claiming not to understand it! WTF?!
What the hell is happening to America?
Oh, you mean something like:
Amendment VAnd what does that entail?
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Amendment VI
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.
What an idiot of a judge.
Not that one should give a crap about al-alwaki— who is/was in a foreign land advocating attacking the US, buuut...
there is some bizarre pretzel logic applied to the notion of
an American citizen receiving “due process” of the Constitution but NOT requiring JUDICIAL process in being targeted for extermination by the citizen’s government.
The concept of a Bill of Attainder could, maybe should be applied in extreme cases legislatively in secret and give the executive authority and the “offender” time to turn themselves in for judicial treatment under the law. But for the Executive to just “declare” for secret reasons— that a citizen be killed? This is just not right.
And this judge is just too stupid to fight the fait accompli. There is no sense in the ruling.
NY Times has changed the title of the article to:
“Secrecy of Memo on Drone Killing Is Upheld”
The US has had “long arm” law for over a century, so killing Al-Awlaki is within historical precedent. I don’t care if he was an American citizen (in name only), he was our sworn enemy and we need to kill our sworn enemies who are actively at war with us. End of story.
PS: We executed the Rosenbergs, Soviet spies, so what is there to complain about? They were American citizens, only secret members of the Communist Party USA and willing Soviet agents.
It is a shame that we didn’t take out members of the Hanoi Lobby when they went to No. Vietnam during the war. The hardcore reds didn’t go to So. Vietnam because they knew that they would be arrested and at the least deported.
I kept telling the So. Vietnamese that if you catch them, kill them. They are your enemy. The So. Vietnamese were a lot more humane than Tom Hayden’s friends in Hanoi.
PS: Tom, you were on the “detain list”. And there might be an ARVN vet who still remembers who you are and what you did to his country and fellow soldiers. Why don’t you try visiting the South today. And bring that ex-commie wife of your’s along. Would make better targets.
If it weren’t for Watergate, you would have been exposed by Congress for the traitors that you are.
How come nobody brings up the ban on assassination? Isn’t that still the law? Not that I agree altogether, but a law is a law.
“I can find no way around the thicket of laws and precedents that effectively allow the executive branch of our government to proclaim as perfectly lawful certain actions that seem on their face incompatible with our Constitution and laws while keeping the reasons for their conclusion a secret,”
Well then you should resign. The creep resulting from a series of precedents has to stop somewhere. The Constitution must trump precedent.