http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/04/07/assassinations

Holy crap, this is scary. You can be deemed an enemy of the state on inconclusive intel and targeted for assassination by the American government.

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Today, both The New York Times and The Washington Post confirm that the Obama White House has now expressly authorized the CIA to kill al-Alwaki no matter where he is found, no matter his distance from a battlefield. I wrote at length about the extreme dangers and lawlessness of allowing the Executive Branch the power to murder U.S. citizens far away from a battlefield (i.e., while they're sleeping, at home, with their children, etc.) and with no due process of any kind. I won't repeat those arguments -- they're here and here -- but I do want to highlight how unbelievably Orwellian and tyrannical this is in light of these new articles today.

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No due process is accorded. No charges or trials are necessary. No evidence is offered, nor any opportunity for him to deny these accusations (which he has done vehemently through his family). None of that.

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Just to get a sense for how extreme this behavior is, consider -- as the NYT reported -- that not even George Bush targeted American citizens for this type of extra-judicial killing (though a 2002 drone attack in Yemen did result in the death of an American citizen). Even more strikingly, Antonin Scalia, in the 2004 case of Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, wrote an Opinion (joined by Justice Stevens) arguing that it was unconstitutional for the U.S. Government merely to imprison (let alone kill) American citizens as "enemy combatants"; instead, they argued, the Constitution required that Americans be charged with crimes (such as treason) and be given a trial before being punished. The full Hamdi Court held that at least some due process was required before Americans could be imprisoned as "enemy combatants." Yet now, Barack Obama is claiming the right not merely to imprison, but to assassinate far from any battlefield, American citizens with no due process of any kind.

JRA wrote:

This doesn't exactly sound like something drummed up by the liberal administration. It sounds more like something the government has always done, they've just been more naked about it now.

It was Bush era legislation that Bush thought better of using.

It was NEVER right. Even Scalia, generally regarded as the most conservative member of the Court, called bullshit on it as a human rights violation in 2004.

While I disagree with Ash's snide comments on this particular situation, you know what was shameful? The Republican opposition to President Clinton's military action against Serbia. They were all like "Wah, this is an illegal war, you can't do this!" and they would have done THE EXACT SAME THING if they held the White House at that time.

Pandajuice wrote:

Syd, the US government has been doing this sort of thing for a very long time. And I appluad it to be honest. I want the CIA rounding up potential terrorists, torturing them for information, and killing them if need be so that my fucking plane doesn't explode over the Atlantic on my way back to California. Fucking liberals cried about waterboarding and now this. Let the CIA do its fucking job so that we don't have to be afraid of getting on a plane anymore.

Should we blow Osama Bin Laden to kingdom come the second we see him, if assassination risks the lives of less American soldiers than capture? Absolutely. But this guy is a nobody. Is assassination really necessary?

As for torture, it is a tough call. On the one hand, the U.S. Constitution expressedly forbades cruel and unusual punishment. Being as our founding fathers considered that an inalienable right, and being as the United Nations considers that a basic human right, it is hard to justify torture. Torture also doesn't always work. Yes, a person will talk to stop torture. But that doesn't necessarily mean they'll tell the truth. During the witch trials, people confessed to witchcraft due to torture. And there's a pretty good chance they weren't actually witches.

So do I condone torture? Absolutely not. But as a fan of 24, I have enough pragmatism to realize that sometimes you've gotta let Jack Bauer be Jack Bauer.

Klimbatize wrote:

It sucks that the '24' to NBC deal didn't go through. Would have been great to see how the propaganda would have changed in a show moving from FOX to NBC. Jack: Where is the device?!!!?!! Tell me where that fucking thing this is or so help me god I'll get a fucking lawyer in here and you'll have to go through years of our justice system. Do you want me to do that to you? Do you!!!???!! Well, until one is provided for you let me get you some fucking coffee!"

Ha, this season of 24 was in NYC too, which is where Law & Order takes place.That could have been amazing. Jack Bauer, meet Jack McCoy.