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Eric Holder Admits To First Americans Killed By Drone Strikes
In a letter to Congress (below), AG Eric Holder admitted that the administration deliberately killed American Anwar al-Awlaki (the radical Muslim cleric) in a drone strike in September 2011 adding, as the NY Times reports, "the decision to target Anwar al-Awlaki was lawful, it was considered, and it was just." As RT notes, there was collateral damage, as it has been widely reported but rarely acknowledged in Washington that two other US citizens - Samir Khan, and al-Awlaki's teenage son, Abdulrahman al-Awlaki - were executed in that same Yemen strike. With Holder’s latest admission, however, a fourth American - Jude Mohammed - has also been officially named a casualty of America’s continuing drone war; bringing the total 'known' Americans killed under the US Drone War to 4 since 2009.
One day before President Obama is due to deliver a major speech on national security, his administration on Wednesday formally acknowledged that the United States had killed four American citizens in drone strikes in Yemen and Pakistan.
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The American responsibility for Mr. Awlaki’s death has been widely reported, but the administration had until now refused to confirm or deny it.
The letter also said that the United States had killed three other Americans: Samir Khan, who was killed in the same strike; Mr. Awlaki’s son Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, who was also killed in Yemen; and Jude Mohammed, who was killed in a strike in Pakistan.
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According to former acquaintances of Mr. Mohammed in North Carolina, he
appears to have been killed in a November 2011 drone strike in South
Waziristan, in Pakistan’s tribal area. Mr. Mohammed’s wife, whom he had
met and married in Pakistan, subsequently called his mother in North
Carolina to tell her of his death, the friends say.
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“These individuals were not specifically targeted by the United States,” Mr. Holder wrote
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“The administration is determined to continue these extensive outreach efforts to communicate with the American people,” continued Holder. “To this end, the president has directed me to disclose certain information that until now has been properly classified..."
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As part of the vaguely defined ‘War on Terror,’ the US has reportedly waged drone strikes outside of Afghanistan where the Taliban once harbored al-Qaeda. In recent years, those strikes have targeted towns in neighboring Pakistan, as well as Yemen, Somalia and perhaps elsewhere.
But despite growing criticism over escalating use of drones, the president and his office has remained adamant about defending the operations. It’s “important for everybody to understand that this thing is kept on a very tight leash,” Obama said last January, adding that his administration does not conduct "a whole bunch of strikes willy-nilly.”
Full AG Letter:
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Hmph. If it's not decided by judges in a court of law with a sentence of death, it's NOT lawful. This was not an armed combatant in the field of battle. Not at all. Al-lawki or whatever his name is SPOKE. He was not a fighter.
Not that I have any remorse over the loss of radical preachers, I don't like radical preachers of any religion, but the rule of law or removal of rule of law applies to us all, not just Americans (I'm not one) but everywhere in every country (considered valid drone-strike territory). We are all equally valid to kill if we permit this series of events without complaint.
Agreed. It's one thing to want a person like Al-awlaki dead and quite another thing to actually kill him. Definitely a line crossed.
Hitler didn't pull any triggers either. And Western civilization waged a world war against him.
Hitler was not an American citizen. Not really apples to apples Bastiat.
Can't we just declare some "rough 'hoods" as official war zones? And then drone the shit out of them? It would reduce the excess housing inventory, boost the R/E markets, and fund the MIC. /s
If you suspend part of the Constitution then you have suspended all of it. We are no longer citizens we are subjects and can be killed by whoever occupies the oval office. It may take a white face sitting in the oval office to convince the followers of our President that the signing of the NDAA by a so called Constitutional scholar opened the gates of hell. God help us. Perhaps we would be better off if God did not look at us.
They are NOT going about it all "willy-nilly".
I feel much better...
This thing, tight leash, willy nilly: This is how a Harvard trained constitutional lawyer speaks peoples.
Are you getting tired of the folksy bullshit yet?
Relax. Willy-nilly is just pal-speak for Billy Clinton.
I have noticed that he changes his tone and diction depending on how far "South" he feels the crowd is. It's embarrassing to watch because you realize what that must mean he thinks of the people he is talking down to.
Obama said "willy nilly." That's embarassing.
Try the suspect in absentia, DAMN IT, and if they are found guilty by a jury of their peers THEN AND ONLY THEN does the government get to pass sentence. I have no doubt that King John of 13th century England would have sure liked to exercise such power. Does anyone else think this is well f**ked up s**t ?
Yeah, I think this is fucked up shit. I also think your idea of trying people in absentia is fucked up shit. Our judicial system is fatally compromised as it is, and you want trials in absentia? Fail.
EDIT: I re-read the comment above about drone strikes on Dimon, Corzine, et al, and realized the error of my thinking. I guess trials in absentia might be okay.
Trials in absentia of American citizens are as unconstitutional as targeted assassinations of American citizens.
Well now! This should get the war crimes tribunal off to a crisp start, eh?
Good thing this wasn't a BUSH administration DOJ assassinating Americans overseas or the Left would be like, upset or something.
Must be nice to decide someone's life or death on a whim. (/s) Did they flip a coin or do rock, paper, scissors?
I think they call it...Drone Kill List Tuesday at the WH.
If you're alive Saturday, you'll probably make it to Wednesday ;-)
"The very first strike under his watch in Yemen, on Dec. 17, 2009, offered a stark example of the difficulties of operating in what General Jones described as an “embryonic theater that we weren’t really familiar with.”
It killed not only its intended target, but also two neighboring families, and left behind a trail of cluster bombs that subsequently killed more innocents.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/29/world/obamas-leadership-in-war-on-al-qaeda.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
But Holder says don't fret, this would probably never happen here.
Well done MR PRESIDENT. Hope and Change is certainly a great slogan for this clusterfuck.
Seriously:
WHO GIVES A FUCK? These "Americans" weren't engaged in the sale of Girl Scout Cookies on a streetcorner in Corpus Christi.
I'm just glad we didn't have to expend any lives getting rid of these assholes.
OWN YOUR WEAPONRY-and don't be a crowd of doctrinaire pussies.
To reiterate; they AREN'T BEING USED HERE.
Now..I need some volunteers for a highly-paid mission to a rock in the Zeta-2 Reticuli system; The colonists there haven't been heard from in the last thirty days. it's called LV-426.
I pay in gold....
you know, you don't exactly sound like you're engaged in the sale of girl scout cookies either. perhaps a drone dropping a bomb on your inbred ass might not be a bad thing...after all: WHO GIVES A FUCK?
I do!
I give a shit!
When they run out of them terriss's who are overseas, and Americans have become OK with ASSASSINATING other Americans on the streets of the USA. Then why have the judge or jury deliberate on YOUR innocence.
Any true CONSTITUTION loving Americans would be outraged by these barbarous acts conducted in our names.
Only nazis, commies, statists, psychopaths, sociopaths and murderers would even CONDONE any of this shit.
By the way, who was the judge of the trial and who sat in the jury?
By the way, I junked you.
Go read the Declaration of Independance and the Constitution of the United States.
You're an idiot. The constitution protects due process for U.S. citizens. You can't pick and choose which parts of the constitution you support. Either you support it all, or you go through the guidelines laid out in it and change it.
After reading all these posts it is fairly apparent who gives a fuck. You should read some of them, they're pretty good.
The Constitution and the Bill of Rights were failsafes for a government run amuck. Political factions are forever changing. Today the fact that you are still breathing indicates that you are more than likely numbered among the favored ones. That status can change in a nanosecond driven by forces you have absolutely no control over. Realize that the extermination of the Jews was legal. A considerable portion of the killing was done by police.
Fifty one percent can wake up in the morning and decide the world will be a better place without you and yours. Your right to due process was designed to prevent your summary execution.
The failsafes in the Constitution were placed there to protect us from the dictatorship of the majority. We have surrendered the safeguards of the republic in exchange for a perception of security. We are fools and a great moan will come up from the body politic before this is sorted out.
It's over
Stunning how the mob of liberals still worships that piece of shit.
Guys, guys, guys.... we are approaching this all wrong. The gov't won't listen to arguments about such trivial things as murdering innocents. Do you realize that these drones run on fossil fuels?! What a needless carbon footprint. We can now blame Obama for global warming. I even heard that a harmless sparrow got injured in the propeller of a drone. Also affected are the migratory patterns of dragons.
Only a matter of time before the drones begin to be used against those that legalized them for use on Americans. They are tech and tech is extremely vulnerable to hacking and to serve corporate, national, and political interests.
Those people like Holder and Obama are really really stupid people. They are dangerous.
Now, when Obama said he was "keeping a tight leash on this thing" he was referring to Eric Holder, right?
Anwar al-Awlaki - the unidicted coconspirator of 9/11/01, who the government played double agent with, got whacked. He was about as American as Bin Laden. He, like Obama, played the "american parent" / foreign student fraud game. One fucked us with terrorism while the other is fucking us with his agenda / and supporting terrorism. Far as the other "Americans" .... if you hang with terrorists you may get whacked. Depends on Obama's choomgang mood swings. But why the "workplace violence" delay with the Ft Hood Major Hassan --A student of Anwar's. Why the ridiculous statement that we "haven't gathered enough evidence" to "arrest" the Benghazi terrorists?
What is really going on? They aren't US citizens but they are al queda (direct or indirect). Hillary (via Blue Mountain / down the street form foggy bottom in wash d.c) hired them to "guard the "consulate". Hilary/Obama are arming al queda in syria and we armed them to overthrow khadaffy (who was providing intel on libiyan al queda) just like mubarak was providing intel on the brotherhood (unaware that Obama is an active al queda-muslim brotherhoiod supporter (tell me the difference.. Zawahiri is #1 al queda and a memeber of the bro hood). So if you are a US cit you can be whacked but if you are libyian or syrian al queda or muslim brotherhood.... you are a friend of Barak and get a pass and get special treatment as if you are a US cit... Israel is certainly aware that Obama has "switched sides".. are the American people? Lets see- 4700 mrap's, 1.6 billion bullets, snappy new uniforms, open borders/easy access for teerrorists, gun registration/confiscation (unarmed populace- it has failed everywhere it has been tried- but Obama is "special" as in special ed more likely) WE ARE BEING SET UP BY A MUSLIM MARXIST "PRESIDENT" and Congress and the sheeple are going willingly to the slaughter... blissfully living it up on fraudulent disability, fraudulent medicare, ebt, snap, texting on the obamaphone and reveling in their "free shit", keeping track of the size of Kim K's ass. When a "president" has said things like he "prefers a single payer system"...and along comes obamacare..... "when push comes to shove I will stand with my muslim brothers".... and along comes libyia and syria and we are actively supporting al queda .... its time to IMPEACH.
A-Q == US CIA
I would be shocked, I tell you, shocked. Thanks to MSM I had watched the TV series "Homeland", so it is now very easy for me to digest the news of Americans being droned to pieces. The MSM is such a darling.