01 September 2010 By Stephen
Lendman An earlier article addressed the
issue, accessed through the following link: http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/08/targeted-assassinations-challenging-us.html In February, then Director of
National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair acknowledged it
saying CIA operatives and Special Forces death squads
have been authorized to kill US citizens abroad,
suspected of terrorist involvement. Disapproval came from an unlikely
source, Hollywood tough guy Chuck Norris in an article
titled, "Obama's US Assassination Program? 'A
Shortlist of US Citizens Specfically Targeted for
Killing?" saying: It's true, an "abandonment of our
Constitution....based on nothing more than" suspicion
of terrorist involvement. "That's right. No arrest. No
Miranda rights. No due process. No trial. Just a
bullet," bomb or slit throat, Washington's new
approach along with torture as official policy -
justice, American-style under Republicans and
Democrats, Obama even more extreme than Bush, the rule
of law defunct and defiled, the "land of the free"
disgraced, the entire world unsafe. Enough to arouse the ire of the
Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and ACLU, on
August 30, filing a federal lawsuit (Al-Aulaqi v.
Obama) challenging America's right to kill US citizens
abroad in cold blood "far away from any armed conflict
and without charge, trial or judicial process," the
way the Obama administration interprets US and
international law. Access CCR's full statement
through the following link: http://www.ccrjustice.org/Al-Aulaqi-v-Obama+ Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki is
a US citizen living in Yemen, targeted for opposing US
belligerency, not alleged or committed crimes, putting
all Americans at risk globally if outspoken against
Washington's imperial extremism, including its
permanent war agenda endangering planetary life and
civil homeland society. CCR and ACLU are rightfully
outraged, filing a successful August 3 suit against
the US Treasury and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)
for violating Separation of Powers and First Amendment
protection of "the right of non-profit lawyers and
legal organizations to give pro bono legal
representation to any US citizen," guaranteed also
under the Fifth Amendment. Still at issue is enjoining
the assassination of all Americans abroad, including
al-Awlaki. On August 30, on behalf of his
father, Dr. Nasser al-Aulaqi, CCR and ACLU filed suit
against Barack Obama, CIA Director Leon Panetta, and
Defense Secretary Robert Gates, challenging their
right to kill his son, in violation of US and
international law. In early July, Dr. Aulaqi
retained CCR and ACLU for his son, Treasury Secretary
Tim Geithner calling him a "specially designated
global terrorist" on July 16, putting him on a hit
list to be assassinated. He's currently in Yemen,
"without charge, trial or any form of due process." After him, who's next abroad or
at home, maybe writers expressing outraged criticism,
media hosts doing it on air, and speakers justifiably
denouncing the rule of law's trashing. Under America's
new standard, they're now potential "terrorists,"
making everyone, everywhere unsafe because of
rampaging government policy, recklessly
out-of-control, unhinged, without morals, ethics, or
even knowledge or interest in the difference between
right and wrong. "Under international human rights law, lethal force may be used in peacetime only when there is an imminent threat of deadly attack and when lethal force is a last resort" to stop it. In contrast, "A program in which names are added to a list through a secret bureaucratic process and remain there for months....goes beyond" a last resort justification as well as recognized US and international law. "Moreover, targeting individuals for killing who are suspected of crimes (not proved) without oversight, due process or disclosed standards....also poses the risk" of erroneously targeting innocent people. Post-9/11, thousands of them, men and some women like Aafia Siddiqui, have been wrongfully designated terrorists, then imprisoned and brutally tortured, discovery later revealing their innocence in court, in some cases too late to matter, their emotional and physical well-being so systematically destroyed, no amount of therapy can restore them. Obama plans to speed up judgements under a ready, fire, aim policy, murdering US citizens for their justifiable outrage, showing how low American justice has sunk, hitting rock bottom under a president who promised change - in fact, delivering it, a different kind than imagined by too many Walter Lippmann once called "the bewildered herd," out of touch and supportive. Why others have to spread enlightenment before it's too late to matter.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening. http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.
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