Obama has given himself, and those he designates, the power to order the deaths of American citizens without ever having charged them with a crime in a court of law. Obama exercised this power when he ordered the drone strikes on Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan.
Two weeks later al-Awlaki’s 16-year-old son Abdulrahman was also killed in a drone strike in Yemen. When the boy went out looking for his father, not knowing that he had already been killed, he and several friends were blown apart by a Hellfire missile as they sat next to a campfire eating their dinner.
The Obama administration says Abdulrahman’s death was a mistake.
Now that Obama has successfully murdered three American citizens with barely a peep from Congress - and has successfully installed the author of his legal justification for the extra-judicial killings of American citizens onto the federal appeal's bench - it is not a stretch to believe that he will eventually use this power domestically. One reason is because Attorney General Eric Holder and CIA director John Brennan have both refused to assure the American people that drones will not be used to kill American citizens without charges inside the United States.
Out of all of the scandals currently confronting the Obama
administration one might think ordering the death of an American citizen who
has not been charged or convicted in a court of law, with no congressional
oversight or judicial review whatsoever, might be at the top of the list of
impeachable offenses committed by Barack Obama. When the merciless savages of Ansar
al-Sharia attacked the CIA outpost in Benghazi four American citizens lost
their lives due to enemy action, the government’s response - or lack thereof - became
a cause célèbre for congressional investigators; but when the president
actually orders the extrajudicial deaths of American citizens who have never
even been charged with a crime nobody cares. Why is this?
It is because the Republicans want to preserve that power
for themselves. They don’t want to charge Obama with a crime for killing the
al-Awlaki’s and Kahn because when he is out of office they hope to be able to
do the same thing. Who needs pesky little things like the Fifth Amendment,
trials, and representation by a lawyer before the government can just snuff out
your life?
The Fifth Amendment states: “No person shall be held to
answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or
indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval
forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public
danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in
jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a
witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without
due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without
just compensation.”
Writing as "Publius" in Federalist Paper #47,
James Madison observed that "The accumulation of all powers, legislative,
executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many,
and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced
the very definition of tyranny."
On September 30th 2011, Barack Obama became a Tyrant when he ordered the deaths of American citizens Anwar al-Alawki, Abdulrahman al-Alawki, and Samir Kahn. On September 30, 2011 the Republic of the United States fell and was replaced with what Madison correctly defined as a tyranny – and the ACLU agrees.
On September 30th 2011, Barack Obama became a Tyrant when he ordered the deaths of American citizens Anwar al-Alawki, Abdulrahman al-Alawki, and Samir Kahn. On September 30, 2011 the Republic of the United States fell and was replaced with what Madison correctly defined as a tyranny – and the ACLU agrees.
Rand Paul and the ACLU don’t normally have much in common,
but in this interview with CNN’s Erin Andrews the senator said that the very
idea of using a drone to strike an American citizen without first going through
the courts is “appalling.”
On Wednesday, May 21st, Kentucky Senator Rand
Paul gave an impassioned plea decrying the use of drones to murder American
citizens without any sort of due process whatsoever in advance of a Senate vote
to confirm David J. Barron to a federal appeals court judgeship. Barron is the chief architect of Obama's drone policy as it
applies to the extra-judicial killings of American citizens. His policy (a
secret policy) was used to justify the killings of Samir Khan, and the
al-Alawkis
Paul says that he is "appalled" and
"horrified" that we now live in a country where a mere accusation is
enough for Obama or those he designates to "legally" order the death
of an American citizen - at home or abroad - without ever having charged that
person with a crime in a court of law as was done in the case of Kahn and the
al-Alawki's.
Last week, the United States Senate voted to confirm Barron
to a lifetime appointment to the Federal court. What good is having a
Constitution if it can be ripped to shreds by activist judges and Presidential
Executive Orders?
In a letter from Eric Holder to the Senate, the Attorney General said “It is possible I
suppose to imagine an extraordinary circumstance in which it would be necessary
and appropriate under the Constitution and applicable laws of the United States
for the President to authorize the military to use lethal force within the
territory of the United States. “
Today, a Democratic American President named Barack Obama
has the power to kill anyone he wants using only his pen and his phone. In
2016, that power could be transferred to a Republican President named Sarah
Palin, Chris Christy, or Jeb Bush. And now they have backup to take the lives
of any American citizen they choose on the Federal appeals bench.
Are you concerned now?
You can watch the entire, explosive, 30-minute interview
with ACLU attorney Nate Wessler by clicking this link: http://bobpowell.blogspot.com/2013/02/aclu-lawyer-calls-obama-judge-jury.html
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