The Obama administration’s decision to authorize the killing by the Central Intelligence Agency of a terrorism suspect who is an American citizen has set off a debate over the legal and political limits of drone missile strikes, a mainstay of the campaign against terrorism.
The notion that the government can, in effect, execute one of its own citizens far from a combat zone, with no judicial process and based on secret intelligence, makes some legal authorities deeply uneasy. (NYT, 5/14/10)
Kudos to Obama for giving the kill order on Anwar al-Awlaki, who is now apparently responsible for inciting several acts of domestic terrorism. A couple of points to make. First, let’s just be clear that the entire Middle East is a combat zone. Who does the New York Times think they are kidding with the “far from a combat zone” language? Second, consider the hypothetical of a group of American terrorists holed up in the Capitol Building threatening to detonate a bomb. Do we not take them out (with extreme prejudice as the military would say) because they are Americans, far from a combat zone?
Thank God for Obama! Can you imagine how horribly W would have treated al-Awlaki? He might have been water-boarded, sent to Gitmo, or God knows what else. I also understand that the nosecone of each aerial drone payload is stamped with a notification of the suspect's Miranda rights. Finally, we have a President who reflects our values!
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