If Snowden is an enemy of the state and cannot be feasibly apprehended...

[Bonobo]

Can you tell me anything that the Administration has said that would suggest that they don't have every right (that they have claimed) to take him out with a drone strike or other measure?

[Fumesucker]

1. Well it would help with that "The US only drone strikes brown people" perception

So that could be seen as a win, win.

[Comrade Grumpy]

2. Equal opportunity droning.

[Vinnie From Indy]

15. Lol

Cheers!

[Cali_Democrat]

3. Snowden will not be droned.

The admin claims they only drone terrorists. I don't believe Snowden has been referred to as a terrorist by the government.

[snot]

9. . . . yet.

He's certainly being called a terrorist by others.

[Cali_Democrat]

14. I don't think the govt will designate him a terrorist.

[delrem]

25. There are those claiming that he's guilty of treason.

[Cali_Democrat]

26. Treason does not equal terrorism.

[delrem]

28. So?

[Cali_Democrat]

29. bingo. n/t

[taterguy]

44. Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?

[Catherina]

4. Nope, just the contrary

And about other measures? Here is what an NSA whisteblower answered when asked what Snowden could expect

Q: He'll (Snowden) be prosecuted?

Binney: First tortured, then maybe even rendered and tortured and then incarcerated and then tried and incarcerated or even executed.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023041294#post142

[jberryhill]

5. He is not engaged in imminent threats of mass casualty

In what course of ongoing and imminent violent hostilities is he engaged?

[Bonobo]

6. Was Al-Awlaki an "imminent" threat?

Was his son an "imminent threat"? Has any such proof ever been requested or demanded? In what form?

If the son was an accident, why no apologies or reparations?

With no requirement for proof of such a thing and with no demands for them by the people, any action is possible with a mere statement that such a threat was indeed posed.

[jberryhill]

7. Those are great questions.

However, it is indisputable that Snowden is not.

[pnwmom]

10. Exactly. n/t

[Bonobo]

11. No,it is not.

We have no "standing" or "recourse" to dispute ANY piece of information that is fed to us as support for a non-judicial means of state execution.

If we were told that there was reliable intelligence that Snowden was planning on revealing to the Chinese information that was going to endanger thousands of citizens by revealing nuclear power plant security information and that he MUST be stopped before he does so, we would not be in any position to argue.

[jberryhill]

13. You think Snowden is engaged in ongoing violent action against the US?

I don't.

I guess we'll just have to disagree about that.

[Bonobo]

16. YOU said it is an "indisputable fact" that he is not.

But I am pointing out that we are not, nor is any judicial body, given the opportunity to "dispute" after-the-fact explanations for this kind of state-execution.

In simpler terms, "think" ain't got nuthin' to do with it.

[jberryhill]

18. Yes, and you have not disputed it

[Bonobo]

20. LOL, that doesn't make it an indisputable fact. nt

[jberryhill]

22. Well, I guess we'll just wait until someone comes along and disputes it

Could be a long wait. Bring an extra pack of smokes.

[Bonobo]

23. Glad to see I schooled you a little anyway.

"indisputable fact" is not the same as "not yet disputed".

"Fact" is not the same as "I think so"

"White House announced" is not the same as "provided evidence"

Let me know if there is anything else I can help with.

[Vinnie From Indy]

19. Well, to be fair

there is no requirement for "ongoing violent action" against the US to get a visit from a drone.

Here are Obama's own words,

“When a U.S. citizen goes abroad to wage war against America – and is actively plotting to kill U.S. citizens — and when neither the United States, nor our partners are in a position to capture him before he carries out a plot – his citizenship should no more serve as a shield than a sniper shooting down on an innocent crowd should be protected from a swat team,” Obama said, adding that he would have been “derelict in his duty” if the U.S. did not take action against al-Awlaki.

To date, I do not believe that the Obama Admin. has provided any evidence that al-awlaki or his son had a plot to kill Americans.

[Bonobo]

21. Nor does the term "terrorist" enter the picture necessarily. nt

[treestar]

42. So you really think they didn't?

They were just doing their thing, OK. In which case, why did Obama kill them? Just for shits and giggles? To scare you?

[disidoro01]

43. Please read up on

This american teenager.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2097899,00.html

A 16-year-old American boy killed in an Obama administration drone strike "should have [had] a far more responsible father," Obama campaign senior adviser Robert Gibbs says in a new video released by the group We Are Change.

[Vinnie From Indy]

46. Well if you are fine with the President killing Americans

based solely on your hunch that he would only do it because they had it coming, so be it! I happen to prefer the age old practice of trials and juries and judges and shit like that.

[okaawhatever]

37. Al-Awlaki was continuing his calls for Jihad against America regularly on you tube and in mosques.

Al-Awlaki was a dual citizen. Yemen and the US. He was tried in Yemen and the judge ordered that he be captured "dead or alive". He also lied twice about his citizenship here. He attended college on a foreign student visa with a scholarship from the Yemeni government. He also lied about his citizenship on a social security application. His roles in several plots have in fact been shown. His emails with the Ft Hood shooter have come out in his trial. Al-Awlaki has many videos and articles on the internet supporting and asking for the killing of Americans, jihad, etc. He had ties to charities that were fronts for terrorists. When he was an Imam he had two of the 9/11 hijackers, the underwear bomber, the Ft Hood shooter and others as his students.
The idea that there wasn't evidence of his plans are laughable. Congress asked You Tube to take his videos down. Also, it's long been considered that someone who "takes up arms" against the US or joins a foreign army has given up their citizenship. After being overseas training with and for Al Qaeda, he couldn't expect that he was still a US citizen. His father tried to go to court for him, so it's not like he didn't know.

[backscatter712]

8. Enemy of the *POLICE* state.

FTFY...

[RedCappedBandit]

12. The issue is that he is in China, no?

If he was in a tiny, voiceless nation.. who knows what his status would be by now.

[wandy]

17. I don't think the government is the ones Snowden should be worried about.........

The ones he should worry about would be Booz Allen Hamilton.
Weather you think Snowden is a hero or a villain it's Booz Allen Hamilton that has egg on their face.
Their the ones that stand to loose some big bucks.
If they think he can do them any further damage.....
They don't gots to worry bout no stinking diplomatic immunity.

[Bonobo]

24. It's funny how many of the defenses of state executions start with "I don't think..."

It's almost as if they don't notice how scary it is.

"I don't think the President will, on his authority alone and with no evidence before OR after, decide that he should be executed."


Oh Jesus, it is scary to watch them frogs boiling...

[Rex]

27. Because China is not Pakistan.

China might fight back.

[HardTimes99]

30. Nah, we can cross the 38th parallel. The Chinese are a paper

Last edited Fri Jun 21, 2013, 03:43 AM - Edit history (1)

Tiger. Said a famous general before Truman shitcanned his insubordinate ass.

Whence the origin of 'Support Our Oops!'

[davidpdx]

31. Snowden said they were going to kill him. Isn't he suppose to be psychic?

No, there is nothing they can do but charge him. He could be on the run for a very long time assuming either he gets granted refugee status somewhere or finds someone who is wealthy with connections that can get him moved around and make him disappear. Too many possibilities to think of.

[LeftInTX]

32. They could hack his computer

Unless he was in some Mid-East country, a drone strike would cause the country to retaliate.

If he goes to Iceland at least it will squelch some of the Chinese spy fear.

[JDPriestly]

33. Hong Kong is at once China and not China.

I don't think we want to attack China.

[BainsBane]

34. Because he isn't planning to violently attack the US

[Bonobo]

35. If his actions were to be an imminent threat to national security...

You don't see that line as now being dangerously thin and hard to read?

What if it was announced that he was going to give away the keys to our entire FBI triple top-secret bloggedy blah?

[BainsBane]

36. It's not going to happen

and I see no need to invent hypothetical scenarios to worry about. There is enough wrong already.

[The Straight Story]

39. Maybe not, but do we have proof all those others were not as well

Or do we just have to take the word of our government?

Yemeni Government Covers Up U.S. Responsibility for Civilian Drone Deaths
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022321462

Following a 2009 U.S. drone strike on the southern region of al-Majala, which resulted in the deaths of dozens of civilians, Yemen’s then-leader Ali Abdullah Saleh told then-U.S. Central Command chief Gen. David H. Petraeus, “We’ll continue saying the bombs are ours, not yours.” The assurance was made in a U.S. Embassy email, which was later disclosed by WikiLeaks.

[cali]

38. sure. no way will they bomb Hong Kong.

[baldguy]

40. Are we getting our talking points from Alex Jones now?

What's next? Obama is a Reptiloid from Zeta Reticuli and therefore isn't a natural-born US citizen?

[treestar]

41. Oh FFS.

I think you actually want this to happen to Eddie so you can make him a martyr.

However, it will not. He's not engaged with Al Qaeda or the like. He's just guilty of some crime of revealing information he was not supposed to reveal by law.

[FSogol]

45. Because waging war against the US on foreign soil is exactly like committing a crime.

Dammit, this spaghetti isn't sticking to the wall. Try something else.