Posted on 02/05/2013 10:33:59 AM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The government has authorized the killing of American citizens as part of its controversial drone campaign against al Qaeda even without intelligence that such Americans are actively plotting to attack a U.S. target, according to a Justice Department memo.
The unclassified memo, first obtained by NBC News, argues that drone strikes are justified under American law if a targeted U.S. citizen had "recently" been involved in "activities" posing a possible threat and provided that there is no evidence suggesting the individual "renounced or abandoned" such activities.
The document was disclosed as a bipartisan group of U.S. senators called on the Obama administration to release to Congress "any and all" legal opinions laying out the government's understanding of what legal powers the president has to deliberately kill American citizens.
The senators who signed the letter, including members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the administration's cooperation would "help avoid an unnecessary confrontation that could affect the Senate's consideration of nominees for national security purposes."
Obama has nominated John Brennan, his White House counter terrorism adviser, who defends drone strikes, to lead the CIA.
An Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing on the nomination is scheduled for Thursday, and Brennan is likely to face questioning on drone policy.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
If you read the White Paper it states right up front “in a foreign country”. I don’t have a problem with that.
http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/sections/news/020413_DOJ_White_Paper.pdf
If the targeted American is in the hinterlands of Pakistan, I figure he’s a terrorist by association. If he’s on American soil, that’s a whole ‘nuther topic.
So what was that argument again about the general citizenry not owning AR-15s?
I suggest then sir, that you NEVER travel abroad if that is your sole criteria. Unfortunately, some of us have to travel abroad occasionally (I was in the UAE earlier this year.) I guess that makes us all targets whenever whomever decides for whatever reason that we are enemies of the state. Cold comfort.
The Patriot Act and the DHS was always meant for right-wingers, Christians, and gun owners. There were people that tried warned about it when Bush started the ball rolling but it was too much fun to get scared of the Al Qaeda boogie man. Now Grandma gets groped at the airport, the local policed have been thoroughly militarized and federalized, every American has their phone calls and email tapped, and Al Qaeda gets money and arms, courtesy of the US taxpayers, to attack sovereign countries that pose no threat to the USA.
There won’t be a single drone strike on American soil.
That would be the bridge too far.
If they use drones on American soil, it will be a massive coordinated attack, after which they don’t think they’ll face any more resistance.
I have to disagree.
There has already been an attack on Americans on American soil with helicopter gunships and tanks.
A drone attack would be much less visable and the media will ignore it.
Drone strikes: Obama moves to block release of files on kill programme (6/2012)
“But if they can kill you without trial,without warning, without concrete reason,using a drone,they can just as easily justify killing you with a poison dart or a cynanide pill or a bullet to the back of the head on a dark street.”
That’s called an “accident”, “natural cause” or “suicide”. If it’s convenient for the government, it’s all just a coincidence, comrade
Yes. However in another era it was said that you can conquer the Empire from horseback, but you cannot rule it from horseback. Sadly it may turn out that Obama's ghost writer's claim that 25 million people have to die for "utopia" to arise may be the river that has to be crossed from conquest to rule.
A State that peacefully secedes is an independent Sovereign and thus a foreign country. Not peaceful for long, I suppose.
It would be the mother of all political river crossings so I believe that 25 million number is a conservative estimate.
Additional millions will be comprised of societies dregs if the crossing is successful.
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