Make no mistake--as a US Citizen, you can be assassinated by your own Government.

[trumad]

As proven by the assassination of the New Mexico born Anwar al-Awlaki.

[jpgray]

1. What specifically is he known to have done beyond writing radical things on the internet?

Associating with terrorists? Promoting terrorist ideals and actions? I'm aware he has been accused of or linked to many things, but the accompanying information I've seen was always more innuendo than evidence.

[trumad]

2. This is my core belief.

("No person shall be deprived of life without due process of law"),

We either follow the constitution or we don't.

[HereSince1628]

5. As Bush stated, the Constitution is a quaint piece of paper

W isn't clever enough to invent that idea himself. It's rather more likely that it originated from the mouth of someone close to his father. Someone who was also close to knowledge of 'state secrets' and the true range of behaviors undertaken by those in the employ of the US government.

Evidence has long been available that the leadership of this nation chooses to not follow the constitution when it suits their purpose.

[msanthrope]

25. Can you tell us what his 'due' was and how it was violated?

He was targeted under the AUMF. Tell us how it got violated.

[sabrina 1]

39. Does the AUMF, which btw, I though Liberals were vehemently

opposed to and elected Democrats in order to rescind these Bush era attacks on our Constitution, is not the Constitution. Where in the Constitution is the US president given the powers of a King?

Or, have you changed your mind? Was Bush right after all when he used the AUMF and the Patriot Act to trash the Constitution, and if so, why should we vote for Democrats if we are all on the same page on these once very important issues?

[geek tragedy]

12. I'm sure his armed convoy and links to several

terrorists who committed their acts within the US are quite innocent.

[Rebubula]

3. Meh...

...I consider Troy Davis a better example of being assassinated by your own government.

This guy...not so much.

You call for war against your government and advocate the killing of innocents - you buy your ticket, you take your chances.

[trumad]

4. So fuck the constitution?

("No person shall be deprived of life without due process of law"),

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[court jester]

10. that document only matters when the other team is abusing it

drone killing might become less acceptable when an (R) is issuing the orders


GO TEAM!

[msanthrope]

24. Targeted killing is Constitutional.

Tell us the due process he was denied under the AUMF?

[TheKentuckian]

6. This guy wasn't even charged with anything. If you are comfortable with any such precedent

then how would we be able to slow the roll on cases like Davis'? He actually was indicted and had a trial, in this case the burden of proof is accusation, accusation of such dicey merit that the nation that can indict a ham sandwich couldn't bring official charges?

A poster in another thread said "if he came here we'd give him a trial", which is bullshit you have to be charged with something to get a trial.

[msanthrope]

23. He was charged in Yemen. Didn't show. Yemen does not have to suffer our citizens murdering

theirs...

[TheKentuckian]

40. Yemen didn't kill the man, we did. We are not Yemen's button men.

[greytdemocrat]

7. Yep. Agreed. n/t

[Kahuna]

19. +1 nt

[treestar]

22. And you are abroad

And annoying another country (Yemen) who tries to bring you to trial, but you won't cooperate.

Nothing is new. It would be like saying David Koresh was assassinated. Some people refuse to be tried and take advantage of their rights. We don't have to let them finish killing first or wait until they kill themselves.

[kentuck]

9. But it could never happen to us.

Right?

kick and rec.

[trumad]

13. That's the thing Kentuck that has me shaking my head...

I'm from the old give them an inch and they'll take a mile club...

Religion--- I am 1000 percent for separation of church and stagnate....because---we let them slip a little bit in, they will keep going until it's all in.

Assassination of American Citizens. We allow that to happen once---it will will happen again and again and again... until the Morans in this country are use to it. Then---we'll assassinate someone on US soil... hey no biggie...he was deemed a terrorist by the US Gov. Except---that terrorist was a Wall Street protestor from Philly.

Give an inch, they'll always take a mile.

[malaise]

11. And your death can be celebrated on DU

So much for constitutional rights.

[leftynyc]

15. The same way I didn't

cry for that animal who got the death penalty last week for killing Mr. Byrd, I'm not gonna cry over this vile creature. I can live with the fact I'm not a purist.

[trumad]

16. 'Purist"

How about someone who believes in the constitution?

what--- it's OK to bend it at convenience?

[Octafish]

14. Slippery slope that leads to tyranny.

Thanks to USA PATRIOT Act, those who oppose the government can be declared enemies of the state.

Gee. I'm so old I remember when opposing the government when it was wrong was called my patriotic duty.

[WinkyDink]

36. It by definition already IS tyranny.

[chill_wind]

17. And make no mistake either

the next conservative GOPfascist unitary executive and his OLC to inherit this privilege should not expect us to object. There are no problems with this, right?

[alsame]

20. Exactly. Is anyone naive enough to think the next GOP president

won't abuse this precedent? And we'll just have to trust their evidence that the assassinated person was an evil-doer, right?

[chill_wind]

27. Evidence?

Exactly. What's that? And why would they have to preserve it if it ever came into question? Why would it not be destroyed? (Or forged into existence if needed. Who's going to track down forged documents? Even ones used to sell a war that's killed millions?)

We've already established there can be times when there are no penalties for CIA destruction of evidence and other acts of "bad legal judgement". None.

[alsame]

28. Yep. Cheney's assassination squad comes to mind. nt

[dmallind]

18. Should Confederate troops have been captured and tried instead?

Is it wrong to give a citizen who wants armed conflict with his own country his stated and acted-upon desire?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

29. This isn't a declared war

this is a vengeance hunt, most of which is making a bad situation already worse, and where the U.S. (hard as it is to admit) has done as much killing of innocents as Al Qaeda (if it even exists except as a CIA fantasy) has.

[treestar]

21. Just because he was born in New Mexico does not make

him loyal to us, does it?

Yet there are people illegally here who would die for this country. Go figure.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

30. No, but it entitles him to the same Constitutional protections as Ted Bundy,

John Wayne Gacy, and Aileen Wuornos, all of whom were known, depraved serial killers.

To say otherwise is plain, naked, primitive, vengeful tribalism.

[WinkyDink]

37. Not anywhere near the legal point.

[dionysus]

26. ah great, the new Mumia...

:eyes:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

32. You don't have to approve of someone to say that they deserve a fair hearing

If only people you approve of deserve a fair hearing, that makes you no better than a dictator.

[WinkyDink]

38. Who, it will be noted, received a trial.

[slackmaster]

31. He was a dick

I'm glad he's dead.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

33. So "dicks" automatically don't have Constitutional rights?

Awful lot of people on DU had better be very afraid if they're ever arrested, then.

[slackmaster]

34. Do you really believe that YOU have any Constitutional rights left?

:crazy:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

35. Well, it would be anatomically impossible for me to be a "dick,"

so I would hope so, but no, I have my doubts, not with this precedent having been set.

We now know that any president can lock up a U.S. citizen in solitary under harsh conditions for years without trial or specific charges. (Jose Padilla)

As of today, we know that any president can order the assassination of a U.S. citizen anywhere in the world who is accused of fighting against the United States, and he doesn't even have to prove anything. (Al-Awaki)

We can kidnap foreign nationals from their countries and hold them in a prison camp that is isolated from the U.S., spend years finding out that most of them are innocent, and then keep the rest indefinitely without trial or charges simply because we can't figure out what else to do with them.

And conservatives get all hot and bothered because some of the men released took up arms against the U.S.

Well, wouldn't YOU be pissed off if someone kidnapped you, an innocent person, to a foreign country, held you incommunicado for years, and waterboarded you before deciding that you were innocent after all?

But apparently, it's OK, because WE'RE the U.S., and we can do anything we want. :sarcasm:

How low we have sunk since the pre-2001 era, when even Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, and Aileen Wuornos were given public trials that followed the Constitutionally mandated procedures.