U.S.-born al-Qaeda cleric Awlaki killed in Yemen

[aesop081]

Feel free to go work at the UN.

Brilliant and expected response. What are you going to do next ? Peel the banana before eating it ?

 

[canada94]

And neither of you is morally superior to myself. You just think you are.

I'm not sticking my head in the sand. I just don't care in this particular case. Feel free to go work at the UN.

Soooo your sticking your head in the sand ?

 

[OldSolduer]

Maybe its the mood I'm in, but I'm all for doing away with human vermin.
I'm all for the rule of law and all that.....BUT like every rule.....there are exceptions.

Let's get a few more.

 

[brihard]

Maybe its the mood I'm in, but I'm all for doing away with human vermin.
I'm all for the rule of law and all that.....BUT like every rule.....there are exceptions.

Let's get a few more.

'Exceptions' to the rule of law merely mean that the rules need to be refined for clarity's sake. Exceptions can be provided for in an accountable manner. I'm all for forcibly putting a missile up an enemy's fifth point of contact, but our state is delinquent if it doesn't make sure proper legal mechanisms are in place.

 

[canada94]

Maybe its the mood I'm in, but I'm all for doing away with human vermin.
I'm all for the rule of law and all that.....BUT like every rule.....there are exceptions.

Let's get a few more.

If there are to be "exceptions" then there must be a definition of what the exception is to be. Slippery slope ideal, who defines it? Obama in behind a locked door (which he did in this case)? Or judges?

The difference between most exceptions and this one, is that there is no definition of who is applicable to the (death) sentence. Awlaki yes, probably was not a good guy. In any sense. But at the same time he never had a chance to defend his name in court, this guy was INVITED to the Pentagon after 9/11 for being a "modern Muslim", for a seminar.. It just freaks me out to know that this sets a precedent to a President killing someone because we "think" they are bad.

 

[OldSolduer]

If there are to be "exceptions" then there must be a definition of what the exception is to be. Slippery slope ideal, who defines it? Obama in behind a locked door (which he did in this case)? Or judges?

The difference between most exceptions and this one, is that there is no definition of who is applicable to the (death) sentence. Awlaki yes, probably was not a good guy. In any sense. But at the same time he never had a chance to defend his name in court, this guy was INVITED to the Pentagon after 9/11 for being a "modern Muslim", for a seminar.. It just freaks me out to know that this sets a precedent to a President killing someone because we "think" they are bad.

We can talk about this all day.....all year and then some. Screw him....he CHOSE to betray the country of his birth in a violent way and he got his just desserts.

Defend his name in court? 3000 citizens of the world never had that opportunity on 9/11....

But maybe I'm just a bit bitter.....

 

[canada94]

We can talk about this all day.....all year and then some. Screw him....he CHOSE to betray the country of his birth in a violent way and he got his just desserts.

Defend his name in court? 3000 citizens of the world never had that opportunity on 9/11....

But maybe I'm just a bit bitter.....

Awlaki had nothing to do with 9/11. I think you might just be a bit bitter, I am not going to sit here and defend Awlaki but at the same time I will not just believe he was guilty for things he "allegedly" did.

Every time on, every thread that has something to do with a CF member in bad light, we are always instantaneously told to not "speculate" and wait for due process. I guess that all goes out the window for "exceptions". 

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Brilliant and expected response. What are you going to do next ? Peel the banana before eating it ?

Hate the game. Not the player. You're the one that started with the ad hominem, which just seems to be continuing with your self expression of minimal intellegence.

You show such an amazing lack of wit from someone so self absorbed.

Soooo your sticking your head in the sand ?

You're grasp of the obvious is astounding. Not. :

 

[OldSolduer]

Awlaki had nothing to do with 9/11. I think you might just be a bit bitter, I am not going to sit here and defend Awlaki but at the same time I will not just believe he was guilty for things he "allegedly" did.

Every time on, every thread that has something to do with a CF member in bad light, we are always instantaneously told to not "speculate" and wait for due process. I guess that all goes out the window for "exceptions".

I'm pretty much convinced the US government had the goods on this traitor. I don't think for a minute President Obama would authorize it unless he was convinced.
Like I said, good riddance to one more traitorous SOB.

 

[canada94]

I'm pretty much convinced the US government had the goods on this traitor. I don't think for a minute President Obama would authorize it unless he was convinced.
Like I said, good riddance to one more traitorous SOB.

I sure hope they did. I also hope they release the evidence soon, if they indeed have any.

You're grasp of the obvious is astounding. Not. :

As is yours!

 

[Nemo888]

But what happens when this precedent is set and some dirt bag gets elected? Basically the government is allowed to shoot anybody it doesn't like in the face. With modern political roulette eventually you will get a bad apple.

What would be wrong with only allowing the courts do it? In absentia trials for treason with the ability to seal the execution order until the day the scum bag is dead.

This is merely hypothetical though. We will continue to send special forces on "training exercises" like we always have. It just won't get put in the news.

 

[Retired AF Guy]

Apparently there was a memo drawn up last year by the Dept. of Justice that would justify any U.S. government attempt to assassinate Awlaki.  More info can be found here:

Secret U.S. Memo Made Legal Case to Kill a Citizen

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

Maybe when you know you're on a list like this you try and make an appeal for disclosure or clemency or even publically state that your innocent??,.......no?, didn't think that was necessary?

  Ok,...buhbye.

 

[FlyingDutchman]

I'm pretty much convinced the US government had the goods on this traitor. I don't think for a minute President Obama would authorize it unless he was convinced.
Like I said, good riddance to one more traitorous SOB.

I thought it was the Department of Homeland Security that ordered the strike.  Did Obama 'get his hands dirty,' so to speak, in this at all?

 

[OldSolduer]

I thought it was the Department of Homeland Security that ordered the strike.  Did Obama 'get his hands dirty,' so to speak, in this at all?

The taking of human life is a serious matter, and the very nature of this makes it very sensitive. I'm thinking he had the final say.

 

[brihard]

Quite likely he did.

At minimum, a legal opinion drafted by part of the government that legally justifies such targeted killings ought to be disclosed to the public. The very essence of law is that it can't be secret. American shave a right to know what framework is being used to make these calls.

 

[Sythen]

Small update

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/15/world/meast/yemen-drone-attack/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

(CNN) -- The son of U.S.-born militant cleric Anwar Al-Awlaki was among those killed in a trio of drone attacks in southern Yemen on Friday night, a security official said.
The attacks, carried out in the Shabwa district, killed seven suspected militants, the defense ministry said. It would not confirm that Abdul Rahman Anwar Awlaki was among them.

 

[cupper]

I thought it was the Department of Homeland Security that ordered the strike.  Did Obama 'get his hands dirty,' so to speak, in this at all?

No, this was not in Homeland Security's purview.

In Washington, turf is so heavily defended that capabilities of one agency or department can't be controlled by another without cabinet level decrees or higher. The Peds are CIA owned and operated, and there is no way they would take orders specifically from Homeland Security.

And authority for something like this has to come from the top, more likely through a classified presidential finding that may never see declassification in anyone's lifetime.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

I still fail to see the relevence of the 'against' people.

Our job is to kill bad people that do bad things. I don't see any grey here.

 

[cupper]

I still fail to see the relevence of the 'against' people.

Our job is to kill bad people that do bad things. I don't see any grey here.

I think what they are afraid of is the slippery slope that leads us to future President Palin sticking a Hellfire suppository up the butt of her ex-brother-in-law for allegedly being a wife-beating douche.