Presidential assasination?

[Beet]

What the...

[Rooney]

I agree with the "what the" statement of the previous poster. Is this a power that even Emperor Cheney took during his Reign of Terror? If not than this really is change that we can believe in since a bullet in the brain is certainly real.

I definitely think that a step that needs to be taken is the officially ending of the Office of Legal Counsel and the position of White House Counsel since these positions are abused by whatever emperor takes the place in the Oval Office. Every president since Reagan has misused these positions, with W Bush and Obama taking it to new extremes. 

[Jacobtm]

Back when this happened it seemed that I was the only one saying that it was blatantly unconstitutional and wrong to assassinate an American citizen without a trial.

Of course it is, but people seemed to believe that ''live by the sword, die by the sword'' was enough justification to just bomb someone to dust without a trial or even an arrest attempt.

The bombing also killed many family members who were with him at the time, a greater tragedy.

But it is really scary that the U.S. government can now say ''TERRORIST!'' and drop a bomb on you. If the law was ever respected, Bush and Obama would both face war-crimes trials.

[Paul Kemp]

As far as I'm concerned, if you're working with an enemy of the United States overseas, you have surrendered your rights as an "American citizen."

[J. J.]

I think that this is a bit like arguing Lincoln couldn't have ordered Union troops couldn't attack Confederate troops, without putting them on trial first.

[Oakvale]

As far as I'm concerned, if you're working with an enemy of the United States overseas, you have surrendered your rights as an "American citizen."

Yeah, this, basically. Treason constitutes a forfeit of citizenship, IMO.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

As far as I'm concerned, if you're working with an enemy of the United States overseas, you have surrendered your rights as an "American citizen."

Yeah, this, basically. Treason constitutes a forfeit of citizenship, IMO.

Where in the US constitution does it say that?

[© tweed]

by the time I'm in my 30s this will be expanded to make it 'legal' to enter my house and summarily execute me without a trial.  and I am confident I won't be in concert w/Islamic terrorists.  the point is the slippery slope.  the organized violence of the state is 1000000000x more a threat to us than 'al-Qaeda' or whatever other fiction.

[Beet]

As far as I'm concerned, if you're working with an enemy of the United States overseas, you have surrendered your rights as an "American citizen."

Not with due process.

Also, Awlaki was not the Confederacy... he was one man, working with an international criminal organization (not a nation-state, even self-declared, in control of territory).

[Jacobtm]

Yeah, this, basically. Treason constitutes a forfeit of citizenship, IMO.

And how do you establish treason to begin with? Should probably be a trial.

Granted that Al-alwaki was probably guilty, but that's the whole point of a trial. You can't just kill people cause we all agree ''they're probably guilty,'' that's a lynching. You need a trial to prove guilt in such a crime.

That's the whole point of innocent until proven guilty.

[Јas]

As far as I'm concerned, if you're working with an enemy of the United States overseas, you have surrendered your rights as an "American citizen."

Yeah, this, basically. Treason constitutes a forfeit of citizenship, IMO.

Even when it is not proven, but merely asserted?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Al-Awlaki is kind of comparable to a wanted suspected murderer who resisted arrest and was gunned down as a result. Like that guy Huckabee pardoned who killed four cops in Washington a few years ago and then was killed by the Seattle PD without a trial. It's not like you could indict him and he would show up for a trial.

[© tweed]

Al-Awlaki is kind of comparable to a wanted suspected murderer who resisted arrest and was gunned down as a result. Like that guy Huckabee pardoned who killed four cops in Washington a few years ago and then was killed by the Seattle PD without a trial. It's not like you could indict him and he would show up for a trial.

god damn do liberals suck.

[Paul Kemp]

As far as I'm concerned, if you're working with an enemy of the United States overseas, you have surrendered your rights as an "American citizen."

Not with due process.

"As far as I'm concerned . . . "

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Yeah, this, basically. Treason constitutes a forfeit of citizenship, IMO.

And how do you establish treason to begin with? Should probably be a trial.

Granted that Al-alwaki was probably guilty, but that's the whole point of a trial. You can't just kill people cause we all agree ''they're probably guilty,'' that's a lynching. You need a trial to prove guilt in such a crime.

That's the whole point of innocent until proven guilty.

True, but it would not be constitutionally problematic for Congress to establish procedures for trials in absentia for treason and offenses against the laws of nations. The exact procedures used would have some constitutional hurdles to clear, and at present Congress doesn't think the potential benefits of trial in absentia are worth the bother.

So if there is constitutional authority for doing this it must be based under Congress' power "To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces" and President is claiming this is in compliance with that.

[Jacobtm]

Al-Awlaki is kind of comparable to a wanted suspected murderer who resisted arrest and was gunned down as a result.

That isn't comparable at all. He didn't ''resist arrest'', no arrest attempt was even made.

They knew where he was, obviously, and decided to bomb him and his family to dust instead of trying to arrest him.

When they found out where Timothy McVeigh was, they didn't just bomb him. When they found the D.C. sniper, they didn't bomb him. You don't just bomb peoples houses because you're sure they're guilty. Why is that easy to forget for just about everyone?

[angus]

Creepy.  So one day you're on vacation and some agent in plain clothes knocks on your hotel room door, you answer it, and they put a bullet in you at close range.  Problem solved.

Maybe it was always like that and now they're being up front about it.  Sort of.

In Germany, on the Night of the Long Knives, June 29/30, 1934, when the intraparty dispute between Ernst Röhm and Hermann Göring was finally settled, many were legally killed in the name of national security.  The official number was 77, but unofficial estimates range up to 1000 people killed by the NSDAP government.  One music critic from Munich, Willi Schmidt, was in his home playing his cello peacefully, wife and children in the next room, and a couple of guys in black uniforms showed up at his house and shot him several times, killing him.  Later, they found that the intended target was a different Willi Schmidt.  Oops.  A few days later Rudolf Hess sent his wife a letter of apology, explaining the mistake.

I wonder if we'll see a rash of legal name changes from people whose names begin with the letters AL, just to be on the safe side.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

I repeat my prior post: Those in favor of the Al Awlaki assassination should take a good hard look ath the Constitution.

[Yelnoc]

[J. J.]

That isn't comparable at all. He didn't ''resist arrest'', no arrest attempt was even made.

He didn't exactly surrender to the authorities either.