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Showing Original Post only (View all)How the Obama administration justifies extrajudicial killing of Americans, [View all]
This is a profoundly disturbing document, and its hard to believe that it was produced in a democracy built on a system of checks and balances. It summarizes in cold legal terms a stunning overreach of executive authority the claimed power to declare Americans a threat and kill them far from a recognized battlefield and without any judicial involvement before or after the fact, Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLUs National Security Project, said in a statement."
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/02/05
So much for the Constitution, the rule of law. This administration has given the Executive Branch the power to kill any American citizen, virtually anytime, anywhere outside of the US, without due process or any sort of court interference.
Even if you think that this administration is completely righteous and just in this regard(it isn't, it has already killed an innocent sixteen year old US citizen), the fact that this administration has given the person who occupies the White House in the future the power to kill US citizens without due process, without even judicial review, should be chilling.
Imagine this power in the hands of somebody with the morals of, oh, say Nixon. The fact is, every single American citizen is now threatened by instant death the minute they step outside of this country. No judge, no jury, just on the word of the President or some other "informed, high-level official."
This country was already well on its way to shredding the Constitution, this decision just hastened that process. Of course there will be those who will defend this travesty simply because it comes from a president with a D behind its name. But the fact is, this is a travesty of justice no matter what party's president put this forth, and if you have an ounce of integrity, if you put our Constitution above party politics, you will protest this with every fiber of your being. After all, if you don't, next time you travel abroad, it could be you who winds up dead at the hands of your president.