I do have to ask deadcode did he even read the article in full ?

To quote... "Liberals criticized the drone attack on an American citizen as extra-judicial murder."

whereas... "Conservatives criticized Obama for refusing to release a Justice Department legal opinion that reportedly justified killing Awlaki. They accuse Obama of hypocrisy, noting his administration insisted on publishing Bush-era administration legal memos justifying the use of interrogation techniques many equate with torture, but refused to make public its rationale for killing a citizen without due process."

I dunno, the liberals seem to be accusing their own president of a capital offense, namely murder. Murder in some states I understand is punishable by death. A critique I'd say easily categorized as severe, to say the least.

On the other hand, at least according to this article, the conservative response seems to focus upon the issue of ... wait for it.... hypocrisy!.. when it come to transparency.

Whoa !... jeebus mary mother of gawd. Bring on the committees !

I stopped reading after you completely lost all semblance of my point.

For starters; I don't play the whole GOP vs DEMS ball game. I play it on an individual level. I think a big portion of the liberal base can agree with a big portion of the conservative base.

I can't comment on the rest because I lost interest. Sorry.

STFU guys Thraxle is right - you idiots drinking the Koolaid voted for the biggest hypocrite ever. At least when people voted Bush in they knew what he was about

add this to the instances in which Obama has contradicted his stance against GWB's use of executive power against terrorists.

face it, you guys thought you were electing one person and basically got Bush 2.0

deadcode wrote.. I stopped reading after you completely lost all semblance of my point.

Guess I made the mistake of assuming that your opening line... How do liberals respond to Obama setting this precedent?.. played a large part in making your point ! Was I wrong in assuming that? Because one of those responses is actually IN the article. So yea, I guess your point there does seem to be eluding me.

Your second point... The US government now can place Americans on an assassination list without due process of law (or potentially any evidence at all considering the panel meets in secret).

Well when did this become news? The actions in themselves, really arent all that new. The questionable disposal of individuals by the US government both domestic and/or foreign who are in the way or pose an intelligence threat be it even American citizens has been around awhile. Furthermore the US aint the only ones in that biz. The formality might be taking on a new face but thats about it. Furthermore your opening headline... scary... I assume was placed there to support what you seem to be implying... as in omg look at where were heading NOW ! But if thats not the case then youre right, Im no longer sure. That said some of the other content I included was in fact directed to other members.

I did find the old trick of plausible deniability in the article interesting tho. Nice to know some things never change.

They didn't kill him for editing a magazine, they didn't kill him for being a Muslim. He was killed bc he was around a predator strike in Yemen. Do we know why he was there? No. Will we ever know why he was there? No. Was it bc of a presidential assassination list? Wait... what?

Bottom line: famous Muslim killed by predator drone.

Two americans dead; one was editor of Inspire; other was Anwar al-Awlaki.

Anwar al-Awlaki is an American citizen. The article states that he is the first american placed on a target list.

They specifically targeted this American citizen accused of terrorism and killed another American citizen by mistake who they would not have killed otherwise.

When asked what gives them the right to do so, they replied that they had a ruling from the Justice Department. When asked for the information about the ruling and what it is based on? Classified.

Btw; this is the same Justice Department that is currently embroiled in scandal for selling 2000 weapons to Mexican Cartels and then losing track of them.

A few of these weapons have been used to murder US border agents.

Government is corrupt and shady.

Ok we get it.

They probably had their reasons, or maybe not. We will never know. The 2000 lost weapons were probably in exchange for some info or the heads of some cartels, but that doesn't make it any less illegal. The person that allowed the weapons to be 'lost' should be dealt with accordingly, but they probably won't. That's just the way the cookie crumbles when it comes to government.

(Anwar al-Awlaki is an American citizen. The article states that he is the first american placed on a target list.)

Yes. So the article says. But, you really buy that? seriously? If you do then our discussion on that particular aspect might have to end there. That said, on THIS particular target list, at THIS phase or juncture of our so called TWAT, with THIS particular secret panel, okay, perhaps, maybe, that might be true. I might go that far. I'd have a hard time with it, but I've no way to refute it. Like it said..."classified"

However, how many "other" secret panels might there have been throughout the various administrations not mentioned in the article... hmmm ? I assure you the boys over at intel aint just been smokin cigars drinkin brandy spyin on the rooskies all these years.

(They specifically targeted this American citizen accused of terrorism and killed another American citizen by mistake who they would not have killed otherwise.)

meh... what's a little collateral damage here and there amongst good warriors. :)

(When asked what gives them the right to do so, they replied that they had a ruling from the Justice Department. When asked for the information about the ruling and what it is based on? Classified.

Btw; this is the same Justice Department that is currently embroiled in scandal for selling 2000 weapons to Mexican Cartels and then losing track of them.)

Actually that parts interesting enuf, but then forgive me for Im rather biased given my propensity for lovin to dig up the dirts on "teh powah"... but wait...

You mean to say there a screw up in how the intel was shuffled around in between certain interdepartmental agencies, all of which if I had to place money on it will lead you directly to the "cough" CIA ???... naww , you jest right ? They couldn't possibly screw this up that bad, could they ?. Actually there's no end to the number of calamities gone wrong when it comes to this shit. The web you weave gets a little complicated sometimes. Even the weavers cant keep track. Not much will happen I predict. Rarely does. Someones head will roll, they'll be dismissed in disgrace. Often re-appearing once again in some other capacity. Might leave a bit of smear on Obama, maybe.

Remember Ollie ? Sure, he had to fall on the sword but even after the drugs for arms iran contra scandal, today, hes doin ok. Pardoned.



+ reply

@Bismuth

Bottom line: famous Muslim killed by predator drone.

Indeed. And when you frame it that way it does ring "disturbing". And youre right, we'll probably never know what the fuck really went down. Your comments do bring to light that there's a a lot of "preconceived" assumptions going on here within us all, not necessarily within ones immediate conscious awareness, until someone points it out. Thanks for that. I can speculate someone knows. Just aint us. Assuming this was a deliberate act (seems so)absent of error, (aside from the other poor fuck) it's not difficult to conclude there was info of some kind once evaluated made it clear a decision was to be made.

Looks your doors and windows kids... stay inside, play kdice, much safer. Dont ask questions.....

insert Halloween ghost sounds... (here)

Hate to be the voice of reason here, but Bush called it the WAR on Terror. He was an enemy combatant, it doesn't matter what nationality he was.

If you're this outraged about this issue (and not just looking for a reason to not like Obama) then why didn't you get pissed we never took Osama to the Hague or any dictators we assassinate? I mean if you have that much respect for the law, right?

Anyhow WAR is the reason for the season.