General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: This message was self-deleted by its author [View all]ljm2002
(10,751 posts)...and there are many vexing aspects to these issues when they occur in real life. That's why we need to adhere to some things as a matter of principle.
There are lots of bad guys out there, in the world at large and within our own borders. There are people who most of us would agree should be put away forever, and even people who most of us agree should just be put down -- even if one is against the death penalty, some crimes test that belief. We've had a few recent threads on such crimes. It is natural for rage to well up against the most heinous of criminals, but as civilized people we must adhere to the rule of law.
One of my main concerns with the drone memo is that it codifies executive power to determine that an individual US citizen is a thread and can therefore be assassinated. I am not comfortable with it.
On the other hand, we're so far down the rabbit hole that I'm not at all sure we can get back out again. We have a CIA that engages in unregulated black ops, that interferes with other sovereign nations at will, and that has engaged in drug running in the US to fund its illegal operations. We have peaceful demonstrators beaten and arrested, we have so-called "free speech zones", we have total email surveillance, well you get the picture. It goes on and on. I just don't know whether our concern for the finer points even matters anymore.