With the assassination of Anwar al-Awlaqi has Barack Obama set a precedent that hereafter will allow U.S. presidents to kill Americans anywhere in the world without due process? That’s what the Department of Justice’s secret memo suggests. This is scary stuff.
Conor Friedersdorf at the Atlantic has the story:
Outside the U.S. government, President Obama's order to kill American citizen Anwar al-Awlaki without due process has proved controversial, with experts in law and war reaching different conclusions. Inside the Obama Administration, however, disagreement was apparently absent, or so say anonymous sources quoted by the Washington Post. "The Justice Department wrote a secret memorandum authorizing the lethal targeting of Anwar al-Aulaqi, the American-born radical cleric who was killed by a U.S. drone strike Friday, according to administration officials," the newspaper reported. "The document was produced following a review of the legal issues raised by striking a U.S. citizen and involved senior lawyers from across the administration. There was no dissent about the legality of killing Aulaqi, the officials said."
Isn't that interesting? Months ago, the Obama Administration revealed that it would target al-Awlaki. It even managed to wriggle out of a lawsuit filed by his father to prevent the assassination. But the actual legal reasoning the Department of Justice used to authorize the strike? It's secret. Classified. Information that the public isn't permitted to read, mull over, or challenge.
AWLAKI HAS NOW BEEN ELEVATED TO THE STATUS OF A MATYR.HIS WORDS HAVE NOW BEEN GRANTED A STATUS VERY RARELY EVER SEEN IN ISLAMIC HISTORY.HE BEING A SCHOLAR \WARRIOR.KNOWN AS A MAN OF GREAT KNOWLEDGE AND WISDOM HIS WORDS WILL BUILD THE HEARTS OF MILLIONS YET TO BE BORN AND INSPIRE LOVE TOLERANCE AND ESTABLISHMENT OF TRUTH AND JUSTICE IN ALL THOSE WHO STUDY HIS WORDS.
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your stopping by and expressing your views. However, my views are very different from yours. I do not believe that any of the world's great religious teachers, including Mohammed, advocated the use of violence against their fellow human beings or encouraged anyone to die a so-called martyr's death.
It is my understanding that God is all loving and seeks to gently persuade rather than force human beings to change their ways. I believe that we are called to follow God's nonviolent example.
People of knowledge and wisdom do not perpetrate violence against their fellow human beings. They seek to build a more peaceful and just world through peaceful means.
I do not excuse Awlaki for any violence against Americans or others that he has caused. Instead I believe he ought to have been captured and brought to trial.
Violence almost always breeds more violence; it does not lead to a more peaceful and prosperous world.