Editor’s note: The views expressed by the author below do not necessarily reflect those of the Western Center For Journalism.
If Barack Obama could pick a single thing to both make conservatives mad as well as his liberal base, it would seem to be his drone campaign against terrorists who happen to also be American citizens.
But this also may be one of the few times in my life that I feel a need to, at least partially, come to the defense of the President.
Is there any American out there who can seriously argue that Anwar al-Awlaki didn’t need to be taken out?
This clown—despite his American birth and his attendance at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces—took up arms against America. There’s a word for that in the dictionary and a penalty for engaging in that act. The word is “treason” and the penalty is death. For all I know, al-Awlaki may have been an NMSU cheerleader at Aggie basketball games (there’s a visual for you); but when you take up arms against the nation, you forfeit your rights as a citizen. And when you go into hiding overseas, we can’t arrest you and put you on trial.
As the New York Times, hardly a conservative stalwart, reported: “Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of shooting 13 people at Fort Hood, Tex., in November 2009, had exchanged e-mails with Mr. Awlaki before the deadly rampage. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab met with him before he failed to blow up an airplane with a bomb hidden in his underwear in December 2009. Faisal Shahzad, who tried to set off a car bomb in Times Square in May 2010, cited Mr. Awlaki as an inspiration.”
In short, this is a guy, who in the lexicon of Texas, needed killing.
And, whatever his and his administration’s tortured reasoning, President Obama did what had to be done.
What amazes me is that the conservatives are screeching about “slippery slopes,” which is normally a liberal argument; and the libs are screeching that Americans who take up arms against America have “rights” (which is normally an argument reserved for chimpanzees.)
Killing terrorists is a very important issue because that’s the only thing a terrorist understands. They say they are willing to die for their cause, and we must be willing to accommodate them. You cannot negotiate with them; and as long as they are allowed to keep coming at us, we are not safe.
Given those circumstances, the right thing to do is to dispose of the threat.
Now if we start using Hellfire missiles from Predator drones to take out American criminals on the streets of south central LA, that’s a different issue. But that’s not what we’re talking about.
When someone goes overseas, establishes that he’s a leader of an organization dedicated to bringing down America, and participates in that organization’s actions to do so, then, by definition, he or she has committed treason and unilaterally relinquished his or her American citizenship.
If Congress wants to establish a special, classified court to review such instances, similar to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act courts that give us permission to wiretap conversations involving such intelligence, it should do so.
Absent that, the President—any President—should be allowed the flexibility to protect America and Americans.
I know that many people literally hate Barack Obama. I know that many different people literally hated George W. Bush.
But both of these guys have one thing in common.
They were elected by Americans to the office, and they have a responsibility to all of us to keep us safe.
As I outlined above, I’m not in agreement with the legal reasoning which Obama used to come to his conclusion because the actual reasoning should be crystal clear. Further, there is a big element of hypocrisy in the Eric Holder department of so-called Justice’s ability to play intellectual twister to get to this position. He could have just called a press conference and said that after a few years in office, their views had changed. That when you commit treason overseas, all bets are off.
But, however he came to his conclusion, I support his actions in these limited cases; and I don’t think you are going to see drones over Nevada taking out conservative, gun-owning citizens.
Because if that were to happen, there probably would be an armed revolt.
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You have to remember the crux of the matter. The snake will use anything to get his agenda, his goal achieved. You have to be shrewd and think of the outcome. One terrorist can be gotten by “other means”. The loss of this evil man having complete power to eradicate anyone who gets in the way of giving complete control so that other entities can take over in the world and here, is too dangerous, too heavy a loss for the world and America to bear. Hell on earth will be an everyday norm.
Also, what is the rationale for killing Awlaki’s 16 year old son and SEVERAL of his friends at a barbecue 2 weeks later.
I disagree with the author. While I agree that AL-walaki is a traitor, NO American President should be permitted to be judge, jury & executioner of an American citizen REGARDLESS. It is a short drive to any President putting YOU on that list for disagreeing with him or his policies. I also believe that this act is unconstitutional. Someone will push this issue to SCOTUS. I just don’t trust the government enough to permit an American “kill list”.
Great article, however sorry to say so Fred, I think that you are very wrong and the reason that you are very wrong is because of the criteria that Obama uses to decide who lives and who dies along with all of the innocent people that get vaporized that are in the proximity of the blasts from the Predator’s Hell-Fire Missiles that seem to come out of nowhere.
The administration has fired hundreds upon hundred’s of drone strikes killing thousands of people, once again, many innocent people as well as those that are CONSIDERED by Obama and his Administration to be guuilty of crimes against America.
If Drone strikes are authorized simply for someone having committed crimes against America, then Hell-Fire Missiles would be raining down on to the White House. Obama is the same person that was against water-boarding but he thinks nothing about vaporizing his targets along with innocent bystanders, how insane is all of that?
Hey Fred put down the crack pipe, your hero the usurper in chief is a traitor. Checking out the definition…….arming enemy states of America controlled by the muslim brotherhood an Al Qaida terrorist partner is in fact treason. Try 24 F16′s and 200 M1A1 Abrams battle tanks accompanied by 1 billion of our disappearing dollars to Egypt’s terrorist regime! I guess you also are in favor of all the drones being flown over cities throughout America in strict violation of the Constitution, fourth amendment for starters! In truth there is absolutely nothing this impostor has done that has not been implemented for an agenda to totally destroy our American way of life. Given your last name I would assume the anti-semites treatment of Israel is just fine with you. Do us a favor and keep your opinions to yourself in the future and not in support of a criminal usurper!
What about his 16 year son? Was it confirmed that he was also actively involved? What about collateral damage that killed others that are innocent bystanders? Are they just counted as “collateral damage” and just shrugged our shoulders and say “sorry about that”.
One more comment Fred, you are 100% correct Major Nadal Hassan was a follower of Anwar al-Awaki and Hassan was also a devout Muslimthat chose to kill as many American’s that he could that he knew where being deployed to fight his loved Muslim brother’s in Afghanistan so, that he killed and wounded as many of them as possible as he was screaming Allah Akbar, and our president deemed that horrendous murderous act of innocent American service men, as ‘workplace violence, ” to prevent people from thinking poorly of Muslim’s no matter how radical or how murderous they might be, as Hassan indeed was.
His deeming it an act of workplace violence prevented those killed and wounded to receive the honors and benefits that they and their families should have been entitled to, it is disgusting, and I would never agree with anything that this farce of a president presents or offers to the American people.
While I would genuinely like to believe that this is not just an example of “even a stopped clock is right twice a day”, I would need more evidence.
There is a valid path to trying and convicting an American Citizen in absentia. It can be done in court or by a military court martial or tribunal. This would allow the government to proceed to attackm capture or kill an American under the rule of law. The system that the Obama administration is using is illegal, both for insurgents and for American Citizens.
My, how clear you make it sound….You say that treason is punishable by death…..How handy….what does it take to program those birds to take out someone who has repeatedly practiced the art of treason? Hmmm.
No one but a judge has the authority to give a death sentence. If anyone can do it with having proof of cause, no one is safe. Obama’s crimes fo on and on and no one does a damn thing about his atrocities.
Want to bet that al-Qaeda is keeping score as to how many of them Obama whacks with our Drones and the day will come when they will get even. They follow the old tradition, an eye for and eye and a life for a life. i believe that we will soon see terror strikes in America similar as to the terror strikes al-Qaeda receives in Afghanistan, Pakistan and in other Muslim countries.
Obama’s attacks will not go unpunished, a;-Qaeda do not have Drones to send Hell-Fire missiles down on us but they do have bombs and plenty of them. Our Members of Congress being as dumb as they are have tp realize that al-Qaeda will soon start killing innocent American people, to revenge the Drone killings that rain terror onto their people, from the shies above their heads.