Obama OK with extrajudicial killing of US citizens overseas = Democracy Now

[L. Coyote]

AMY GOODMAN: The Obama administration has acknowledged it’s continuing a Bush-era policy authorizing the killing of US citizens abroad ... Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair in congressional testimony last week ... told the House Intelligence Committee US forces can assassinate Americans ............

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/2/9/obama_administration_us_forces_can_assassinate

Obama Administration: US Forces Can Assassinate Americans Believed to Be Involved in Terrorist Activity
Assassinations

The Obama administration has acknowledged it’s continuing a Bush-era policy authorizing the killing of US citizens abroad. The confirmation came from Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair in congressional testimony last week. Blair said, “Being a US citizen will not spare an American from getting assassinated by military or intelligence operatives overseas if the individual is working with terrorists and planning to attack fellow Americans.” We speak to Rep. Dennis Kucinich and blogger and attorney Glenn Greenwald. (includes rush transcript)

Guests:

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), last week he wrote a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder requesting an explanation of the Obama administration’s legal basis for the extrajudicial killing of US citizens.

Glenn Greenwald, constitutional law attorney and political and legal blogger for Salon.com. He wrote a widely circulated piece for Salon last week called ‘Presidential Assassinations of US Citizens’ (http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/01/27/yemen/index.html)

AMY GOODMAN: The Obama administration has acknowledged it’s continuing a Bush-era policy authorizing the killing of US citizens ......

==================================
As a person with nine knife wounds from trepidations in Central America during Reagan and Bush's illegal Contra War, I must say that getting shot overseas for opposing US politics would be no surprise. What is a surprise these days is the complete lack of visible change.

Are we back to, If you are a liberal, better stay home because liberals get shot at road checkpoints? Oh wait, they are still using the word "terrorist" for political enemy, right?

[Ian David]

1. Let's convince the Teabaggers to have their next convention in Yemen. n/t

[DrDan]

2. "believed to be involved" - that's some pretty sound justice

[vegiegals]

3. No trial, just shoot.

[DrDan]

9. that's ok if we "believe" the victim is involved

that's strong enough evidence.

Perhaps we could take a vote.

[L. Coyote]

16. When two sides act on belief, you get war

We seem incapable, all too often as humans, of separating belief and fact.

[DrDan]

18. I know. It amazed me the other day when I saw that the gop wants to make global warming an election

issue.

Why can't these cretins stay out of science. Their beliefs are not going to change scientific research - only make fools of those that refuse to see what the facts are telling us.

[L. Coyote]

19. Yes, belief supercedes both science and reason

and can lead to all manner of wrong actions in consequence, like the political decision of murdering your own citizens.

[Echo In Light]

8. What else should we expect from a phony "war?"

[Mari333]

4. nope and chump change. knr . sickening.

[L. Coyote]

5. Glenn Greenwald: "President claims the power to order U.S. citizens killed anywhere in the world"

"the Obama administration -- like the Bush administration before it -- defines the "battlefield" as the entire world. So the President claims the power to order U.S. citizens killed anywhere in the world, while engaged even in the most benign activities carried out far away from any actual battlefield, based solely on his say-so and with no judicial oversight or other checks. That's quite a power for an American President to claim for himself."

-- Glenn Greenwald = Presidential assassinations of U.S. citizens
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/01/27/yemen/index.html

"... authoritarians among us in both parties will, by definition, reflexively justify this conduct by insisting that the assassination targets are Terrorists and therefore deserve death. What they actually mean, however, is that the U.S. Government has accused them of being Terrorists, which (except in the mind of an authoritarian) is not the same thing as being a Terrorist. Numerous Guantanamo detainees accused by the U.S. Government of being Terrorists have turned out to be completely innocent, and the vast majority of federal judges who provided habeas review to detainees have found an almost complete lack of evidence to justify the accusations against them ...."

[L. Coyote]

6. WA POST: U.S. military teams, intelligence deeply involved in aiding Yemen on strikes

U.S. military teams, intelligence deeply involved in aiding Yemen on strikes

By Dana Priest
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/26/AR2010012604239.html?hpid=topnews


U.S. military teams and intelligence agencies are deeply involved in secret joint operations with Yemeni troops who in the past six weeks have killed scores of people, among them six of 15 top leaders of a regional al-Qaeda affiliate, according to senior administration officials.

The operations, approved by President Obama and begun six weeks ago, involve several dozen troops from the U.S. military's clandestine Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), whose main mission is tracking and killing suspected terrorists. The American advisers do not take part in raids in Yemen, but help plan missions, develop tactics and provide weapons and munitions. Highly sensitive intelligence is being shared with the Yemeni forces, including electronic and video surveillance, as well as three-dimensional terrain maps and detailed analysis of the al-Qaeda network.

As part of the operations, Obama approved a Dec. 24 strike against a compound where a U.S. citizen, Anwar al-Aulaqi, was thought to be meeting with other regional al-Qaeda leaders. Although he was not the focus of the strike and was not killed, he has since been added to a shortlist of U.S. citizens specifically targeted for killing or capture by the JSOC, military officials said. The officials, like others interviewed for this article, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the operations.

.................

[ThomWV]

7. I have posted about this three times in the last week

The Director National Intelligence gave sworn testimony 8 days ago telling the world that the CIA has murdered Americans. It is that simple.

[DrDan]

10. and some of us replied to your posts. . . .

it's still HORRIBLE policy

[ThomWV]

11. I only disagee with your choice of words.

It isn't horrible policy, its murder plain and simple.

[DrDan]

12. no doubt about that

and it is horrible that, even if never used, this policy would be embraced by the current administration.

[ThomWV]

13. as are secrete courts, secrete trials, secrete detention centers, secrete surveillan of citizens, ..

[lonestarnot]

17. Which are right here in the good ol USA as a matter of course.

[L. Coyote]

14. It is a policy to murder, plain and simple.

And it seems to have no traction on anyone's attention because some cutsy, Nazi cheerleader is playing with their heads like a pro!

[Political Heretic]

20. Thank you for your work on this. It is doesn't go unnoticed.

Sometimes I think the darkness at the heart of our country is almost more than people can accept. Things are so bad, meaning morally reprehensible and fundamentally unjust, that its difficult to fully comprehend.

Worse still, its incredibly difficult to come to terms with the Democratic party's role in what is so terribly broken - because its so heartbreaking. For years many of us, including myself, labored under the sincere belief that the differences between the parties were significant enough to justify ignoring the terrible policy promoted and endorsed by many Democrats.

Many people, including myself, believed that while Democrats might not be doing enough to transform a fundamentally unjust system, they at least "stopped" the downward slide created when Republicans are in power. And while things were "stopped" the opportunity was there for a few small victories to be had. A little more spending on social welfare here. A bit of funding to social justice agencies there. A little "reform" sprinkled around in between.

What I discovered is that the modern Democratic party - its leadership particularly, as well as too many of its elected representatives - does not "stop" the downward slide created by Republicans. In critical area after critical area, Democrats keep the same fundamentally unacceptable immoralities going. What they continue to perpetuate is so bad that it dwarfs the tiny incremental gains made here and there.

No matter how cliche this may be, I've come to believe that the simple reality is that Democrats and Republicans argue about rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Democrats want to arrange the chairs so that they seat a few more people. Republicans want to arrange the chairs so that they sit only the most affluent passengers. All the while the ship is still sinking.

I keep posting on Democratic Underground because I value the community. But also because I don't desire to see the Democratic Party fail. What I want is for good men and women passionate about social and economic justice to become filled with righteous indignation - and I want those men and women to take over (some would say take back, but I think take over is more accurate) the Democratic Party.

The Democratic Party has had a long history of speaking about the poor and working class Americans in its party platform. It has a long history of referring to social and economic justice in its platform. Certain Democrats of history have called corporations and the hyper-rich "economic royalists" and had the courage to say "I welcome their hatred."

Sadly, I don't believe that the Democratic Party overall has regularly lived up to those ideals. But those ideas are historically part of the values it claims to represent. What I want is a people's movement to take over the Democratic party and choose to actually act in accordance with those professed values - siding with workers rather than with rulers, demanding socialist democracy as the only avenue to justice.

That may never happen. In fact I'm not optimistic that it will. But I don't "hate" the Democratic Party. I "hate" the fact that it has never really meant a lot of what it claimed to stand for, and I think its high time that we change that.

Every day I write here I'm afraid I'll wake up and discover myself banned. I know I'm not a traditional Democrat, and I know I am a strong, vociferous critic. But I love participating in this community, and if we could see a day where the Democratic party was transformed -

-where its leaders reflected the courage and moral decency of a Bernie Sanders or Dennis Kucinich,

-where its Chairman would go on record welcoming the hatred of "economic royalists" just like FDR did,

-where its policy experts would sound like Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn,

-where socialism (which nearly everyone here agrees with "in theory," but not everyone believes is possible) was a valued word proudly associated with our representatives....

...if we could see that day I would be thrilled to tears.

Of course I realize that we won't see that day, not unless there is culture-changing crisis like a complete economic collapse - something I can't in good conscience actively wish for (because I can't bring myself to actively wish suffering on anyone.) I am always aware of the unlikelihood that justice will reign over greed, power lust and corruption.

But whenever I try to stop speaking, writing or devoting my life work to these notions of truth about what's wrong with our society and what's desperately needed for our people - I feel like some part of me dies.

So let's continue to debate and discuss. Yes, it gets heated at times. And yes I am a deeply, deeply flawed communicator. I have a streak of arrogance at times that is absolutely baseless. Sometimes I lose my temper and say things I regret. But all I can tell you is that I make a daily, conscious commitment to try and represent the best traits.

I try to have my facts together when it comes to data. I try to post and admit when I make mistakes. I try to come back and apologize if I've treated someone unfairly. I try and keep criticisms about the administration (with which I have strong disagreements) or congressional Democrats focused on policy and without personal attacks. I try not to namecall people that disagree with me.

When I do any of those things - and I'm afraid I will, as I am not perfect - tell me. PM me or call me out of on it. I will do my best to take it to heart.

At the end of the day, all I want is social and economic justice for the ordinary people of this country, which I think is something that we can all agree on. That's why I still post here, and that's why I hope that I'll continue to be welcome.

[L. Coyote]

15. Al-Awlaki's father says son is 'not Osama bin Laden'

Al-Awlaki's father says son is 'not Osama bin Laden'
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/01/10/yemen.al.awlaki.father/index.html


Sanaa, Yemen (CNN) -- His anguish apparent, the father of Anwar al-Awlaki told CNN that his son is not a member of al Qaeda and is not hiding out with terrorists in southern Yemen.

"I am now afraid of what they will do with my son, he's not Osama Bin Laden, they want to make something out of him that he's not," said Dr. Nasser al-Awlaki, the father of American-born Islamic cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.

As recently as Sunday, Yemeni officials including provincial governor Al Hasan al-Ahmadi claimed that al-Awlaki was hiding out in the southern mountains of Yemen with al Qaeda.

"He's dead wrong. What do you expect my son to do? There are missiles raining down on the village. He has to hide. But he is not hiding with al Qaeda; our tribe is protecting him right now .... My son is (a) wanted man, he's cornered, that's the problem I am facing," al-Awlaki said.

The al-Awlaki family comes from the large and powerful Awalek tribe of southern Yemen. It has many connections to the government of Yemen, including the country's prime minister, who is a relative of the al-Awlaki family.

...............