I agree with this response.
No one is proposing to kill innocent Americans.
But we can’t exclude the possibility it may be necessary to use drones to terminate Islamic terrorists here in America. I’d rather kill them first than see Americans dead.
Rand Paul wants to read them their constitutional rights. I don’t want them to mass murder Americans. For me, its not even a close call.
The Constitution is not a suicide pact.
With the definition or "terrorist" constantly evolving and expanding, it is too easy to replace your "Islamic" modifier with the enemy du jour.
Start with, say drug dealers. Move on to Aryan Brotherhood types. Then the KKK, religious fanatics, child abusers....ad infinitum.
The American system is supposed to punish illegal acts under due process of law. Mitigating that "for the greater good" is not where we want to go. There's no good ultimate outcome to it.
Bull sh*t! Call it "collateral damage" if you want to.
The AGM 114M Hellfire Missile has a 9kg (roughly 20 lb explosive weight) blast/fragmentation warhead for use against light vehicles and 'soft' targets. I would expect a minimum kill radius of 30 meters. Drop one of those in on a family reunion or concert... You're going to bag some "innocents". Unless the target is caught alone in the middle of an empty football field, someone else is going to get hurt--maybe a lot of someones.
I figure the tactic will be to pop one into the home and blame it on a "gas explosion". Of course, the BATFE and FBI will be there to pick up the pieces during the investigation (and remove any evidence).
Pure deniability from there, unless some kid pulls an identifiable missile fragment out of their bedroom wall--but SOP is to clear the people out of the area of a 'suspected gas leak' (until it is declared safe, however long that takes) which gives plenty of time to look for holes in walls and broken windows so they can get the rest.
Ignoring the constitution is ALWAYS worse than obeying it. If that’s a problem for you there are plenty of other countries for you to live in.