The fourth & sixth amendment of the constitution provides American citizens the right to trial by an impartial jury, prior to the Obama administration it was that citizens were innocent until proven guilty.
Shockingly an internal Justice Department memo says it is legal for the government or Obama to order the kill of a U.S. citizens abroad if it believes they are senior engaged in operations aimed at killing Americans. There is no limitation to this order, anyone Obama considers a risk with no court, jury or other can be targeted for death.
The document, reported Monday night by NBC News, provides a legal rationale behind the Obama administration’s use of drone strikes against American citizens whom they consider suspects.
The 16-page document says it is lawful to target terrorist linked U.S. citizens if they pose an “imminent” threat of violent attack against Americans, and that delaying action against such people would create an unacceptably high risk. Such circumstances may necessitate expanding the concept of imminent threat, the memo says.
In September 2011 Obama ordered drone strike in Yemen killing Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan, both U.S. citizens he felt were a risk, no trial, not jury just instant death. No doubt al-Awlaki and Khan were bad guys in with Al Queda, but where does it end? Do we trust our government with such powers over its own citizens, to make a call of who is bad an who is good, and next thing you know there is a drone over our Hotel rooms abroad. All Americans citizens are protected under the Fourth Amendment, even those two pigs.
More bothersome about Obama’s use of force is that the memo does not require the U.S. to have information about a specific imminent attack against the U.S. Obama criticized Bush for detaining terrorist in Guantanamo Bay, although the detention of people is clearly [less warranted] compared to targeted killing people.
The American Civil Liberties Union said the document is “profoundly disturbing.”
“It’s hard to believe that it was produced in a democracy built on a system of checks and balances,” the ACLU said.
Obama claims that the use of lethal force would not violate the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution when a targeted person is an operational leader of an enemy force and an informed, high-level government official has determined that he poses an threat to the U.S.
Most disturbing is the Memo clearly point out that the courts have no role to play in the matter. “Under the circumstances described in this paper, there exists no appropriate judicial forum to evaluate these constitutional considerations.”
Whats next American considered a risk on American soil targeted for drone attacks? Where does this end? Obama’s Government is way beyond being out of hand, people can see where this is heading.
Americans who foolishly think they can fight an armed resistance if the government comes to take their guns, take note. They will just drone strike you into oblivion. They won’t need a military force. They’ll need just a few loyal drone operators.
Remember this comes from the same administration that labelled retired law enforcement officers and military veterans as potential domestic terrorists, tea party members too were considered high risk for Terrorism. See 10 Ridiculous things that make you a terror suspect.
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