When an American citizen leaves the U.S., they don't give up their constitutional rights. Which is why it's so downright scary that at a hearing yesterday, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair admitted that the Obama administration reserves the right to order the assassination of Americans abroad who are suspected of involvement in terrorism.
This kind of death-before-due-process is called an "extrajudicial killing." It's also a violation of Americans' Fifth Amendment rights (you know, the "No person shall…be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law" part).
More:
http://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security/drones-targeted-killings-and-fifth-amendment* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
As Noam Chomsky points out in his foreword to Howard Zinn's autobiography ("Howard Zinn," D.D. Joyce), we're being viewed around the world as "the single greatest external threat" to other societies, the "prime rogue state," and a "rogue superpower." The issue of extrajudicial killing of anyone, and more specifically of American citizens, demonstrates that we are not only a threat to other societies, we threaten our own society's freedoms and democracy. No less so, and maybe more so, than when Chomsky wrote these words during the first term of George W. Bush's presidency. The U.S. Constitution has become little more than an instruction manual discarded by the few with the power to tinker with the lives of the many.
I know it seems like the odds are insurmountable. There's a constant internal struggle between what Antonio Gramsci called the pessimism of the intellect and the optimism of the will. Why act, if others submit? Why care, if others are apathetic? Why speak while others stand mute? Because humans are social animals, and the majority wait to be lead. Those of us who act inspire others to do the same. Sacrifice in one leads to sacrifice by the many.
The opposition to the Vietnam War took years to develop, but by the time of the 1968 Tet Offensive it had grown to the point that the Joint Chief's of Staff of the Armed Forces recommended against sending more soldiers to Vietnam because of their concern that it might leave inadequate military resources to deal with growing civil unrest at home. This proved Jefferson's assertion that liberty requires that a government fear its people, while tyranny results when people fear their government. Where are we in this relationship in 2010? Is our democracy flourishing, or eroding?
We all need to oppose illegal, immoral and unethical actions by our government. We can only do that by making the government once again answerable to the people; by reclaiming the sovereignty that is supposed to reside in us; by taking action--what Howard Zinn called "the countless small actions of unknown people."
Again, in Chomsky's words: "What matters is to take part, as best we can, in the small actions of unknown people that can stave off disaster and bring about a better world..."
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