Government Assignation Of US Citizens
LaserWolf
Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2010/0831/Anwar-al-Awlaki-ACLU-wants-militant-cleric-taken-off-US-kill-list
By Warren Richey, Staff Writer / August 31, 2010
Two US civil rights groups are asking a federal judge to halt an alleged Obama administration plan to kill an American citizen believed to be allied with Al Qaeda and hiding in Yemen.
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The US government has linked American-born Anwar al-Awlaki (pictured here) to the Fort Hood shootings and the Christmas Day bombing. The Center for Constitutional Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed the lawsuit Monday in Washington, to stop an alleged plan to assassinate him.
Muhammad ud-Deen/AP/File
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Related Stories
* Anwar al-Awlaki: Is it legal to kill an American in war on terror?
* Yemen balks at possible US strike on cleric Anwar al-Awlaki
* Why is Anwar Al-Awlaki terrorist 'No. 1?'
The Center for Constitutional Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed the lawsuit Monday in Washington. It asks US District Judge John Bates to order the government not to carry out the alleged plot to conduct a targeted killing of Anwar al-Awlaki.
Mr. Awlaki is a militant Islamic lecturer who used the Internet to spread the ideology of Al Qaeda. Born in the US and educated at American colleges, Awlaki has provided a bridge between militants overseas and some radical Muslims based in the US.
He is reported to have encouraged Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan. He allegedly helped train Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who has been charged with attempting to blow up an airliner on Christmas Day, and is said to have inspired would-be Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad.
According to the lawsuit, US officials placed Awlaki???s name on a ???kill list??? in early 2010. The suit says that American officials are using secret criteria to determine who goes on the list.
It says the killings are carried out by the Central Intelligence Agency or the military???s Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC).
???The right to life is the most fundamental of all rights,??? says ACLU lawyer Arthur Spitzer in the complaint.
???US citizens have a right to know what conduct may subject them to execution at the hands of their own government,??? Mr. Spitzer writes. ???Due process requires, at a minimum, that citizens be put on notice of what may cause them to be put to death by the state.???
The complaint adds: ???Both the Constitution and international law prohibit targeted killing except as a last resort to protect against concrete, specific, and imminent threats.???
Government officials have defended the program, saying that after the 9/11 attacks Congress granted the executive branch wide latitude to take action to protect the country from Al Qaeda.
???The US is careful to ensure that all its operations used to prosecute the armed conflict against those forces, including lethal operations, comply with all applicable laws, including the laws of war,??? Justice Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.
"This administration is using every legal measure available to defeat Al Qaeda, and we will continue to do so as long as its forces pose a threat to this nation," he said.
President Obama, CIA Director Leon Panetta, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates are named as defendants in the suit.
The same two civil rights groups filed a lawsuit on Aug. 3 challenging the legality of Treasury Department regulations that require lawyers in the case to obtain a government-issued license before they could file a lawsuit on behalf of someone on the government???s terrorism list. That suit asked a judge to declare the licensing requirement illegal and unconstitutional.
Both lawsuits were filed in the name of Awlaki???s father, Nasser al-Awlaki. The arrangement was necessary, according to the complaint, because his son, Anwar, is in hiding in Yemen and cannot gain access to lawyers or the courts to assert his constitutional rights without risking imminent death.
The elder Awlaki was a Fulbright scholar from Yemen studying in the US in the 1960s. He married a US citizen and they had a son, Anwar, who is also a US citizen because he was born in the US. The family returned to Yemen in 1978.
Anwar returned and lived in the US from 1991 to 2003. He studied at Colorado State University, San Diego State University, and George Washington University. He is married with three children.
???Upon information and belief,??? the suit says, ???Anwar [Al-Awlaki] is now subject to a standing order that permits the CIA and JSOC to kill him.???
The suit alleges that the targeted-killing program violates Awlaki???s Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable seizure and his Fifth Amendment right not to be deprived of life without due process.
By Warren Richey, Staff Writer / August 31, 2010
Two US civil rights groups are asking a federal judge to halt an alleged Obama administration plan to kill an American citizen believed to be allied with Al Qaeda and hiding in Yemen.
Skip to next paragraph
*
The US government has linked American-born Anwar al-Awlaki (pictured here) to the Fort Hood shootings and the Christmas Day bombing. The Center for Constitutional Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed the lawsuit Monday in Washington, to stop an alleged plan to assassinate him.
Muhammad ud-Deen/AP/File
Enlarge
Related Stories
* Anwar al-Awlaki: Is it legal to kill an American in war on terror?
* Yemen balks at possible US strike on cleric Anwar al-Awlaki
* Why is Anwar Al-Awlaki terrorist 'No. 1?'
The Center for Constitutional Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed the lawsuit Monday in Washington. It asks US District Judge John Bates to order the government not to carry out the alleged plot to conduct a targeted killing of Anwar al-Awlaki.
Mr. Awlaki is a militant Islamic lecturer who used the Internet to spread the ideology of Al Qaeda. Born in the US and educated at American colleges, Awlaki has provided a bridge between militants overseas and some radical Muslims based in the US.
He is reported to have encouraged Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan. He allegedly helped train Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who has been charged with attempting to blow up an airliner on Christmas Day, and is said to have inspired would-be Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad.
According to the lawsuit, US officials placed Awlaki???s name on a ???kill list??? in early 2010. The suit says that American officials are using secret criteria to determine who goes on the list.
It says the killings are carried out by the Central Intelligence Agency or the military???s Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC).
???The right to life is the most fundamental of all rights,??? says ACLU lawyer Arthur Spitzer in the complaint.
???US citizens have a right to know what conduct may subject them to execution at the hands of their own government,??? Mr. Spitzer writes. ???Due process requires, at a minimum, that citizens be put on notice of what may cause them to be put to death by the state.???
The complaint adds: ???Both the Constitution and international law prohibit targeted killing except as a last resort to protect against concrete, specific, and imminent threats.???
Government officials have defended the program, saying that after the 9/11 attacks Congress granted the executive branch wide latitude to take action to protect the country from Al Qaeda.
???The US is careful to ensure that all its operations used to prosecute the armed conflict against those forces, including lethal operations, comply with all applicable laws, including the laws of war,??? Justice Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.
"This administration is using every legal measure available to defeat Al Qaeda, and we will continue to do so as long as its forces pose a threat to this nation," he said.
President Obama, CIA Director Leon Panetta, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates are named as defendants in the suit.
The same two civil rights groups filed a lawsuit on Aug. 3 challenging the legality of Treasury Department regulations that require lawyers in the case to obtain a government-issued license before they could file a lawsuit on behalf of someone on the government???s terrorism list. That suit asked a judge to declare the licensing requirement illegal and unconstitutional.
Both lawsuits were filed in the name of Awlaki???s father, Nasser al-Awlaki. The arrangement was necessary, according to the complaint, because his son, Anwar, is in hiding in Yemen and cannot gain access to lawyers or the courts to assert his constitutional rights without risking imminent death.
The elder Awlaki was a Fulbright scholar from Yemen studying in the US in the 1960s. He married a US citizen and they had a son, Anwar, who is also a US citizen because he was born in the US. The family returned to Yemen in 1978.
Anwar returned and lived in the US from 1991 to 2003. He studied at Colorado State University, San Diego State University, and George Washington University. He is married with three children.
???Upon information and belief,??? the suit says, ???Anwar [Al-Awlaki] is now subject to a standing order that permits the CIA and JSOC to kill him.???
The suit alleges that the targeted-killing program violates Awlaki???s Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable seizure and his Fifth Amendment right not to be deprived of life without due process.
Comments
Also, thanks to Saba for pointing me to this article.
We're next to last in spelling too?
I fully expect the military/government to kill my friend's son, Adam Gadahn, an American citizen who joined the Taliban.
I am.
It doesn't appear that anything has actually happened....it's accusations unless you know of someone who was actually assassinated by Obama's orders.
BTW....you can name anyone you want in a lawsuit.
Obama called for the killing of dude. That's what happened.
Screwed by the American government.
At least their not doing it with foreigners.
I doubt you (anyone) could name a single American president who has not issued a kill order of one type or another on numerous American citizens. There is nothing unusual about this.
And that makes it okay because .....?
Name one besides Barack who has.
Where might I find proof of this?
Rock, just google the guys name. Anwar al-Awlaki. Choose sources you believe.
I did...I found lots of assumptions, accusations and hearsay.
But let's say it's true.
Are you outraged that there is a list of terrorists that the government has assigned a "Taken Dead Or Alive" tag to, or that this particular terrorist happened to be born in America? (Insert the word alleged anywhere you see fit).
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/04/16/mohamed-elibiary-alawlaki-assassinate-muslims-war-terror-nsc/
Oh, I have plenty of rage to go around. Mainly though, Americans are supposed to be protected by the constitution. I haven't alleged anything yet, I don't see why you think I'd start.
Abraham Lincoln.
I am not aware of any public list Lincoln kept of Americans he wanted murdered on sight. Care to provide further information? I'm not too worried about it, as I said in my post "modern" to specifically exclude the civil war.
FOX news.
Seriously?
You know what's worse than someone who believes every thing they hear on fox news? This.
More sources:
Newsweek: An Act of Futility
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/04/12/an-act-of-futility.html
U.S. Approves Targeted Killing of American Cleric
https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/world/middleeast/07yemen.html?_r=1&hp;
Can Anwar al-Awlaki Sue to Get Off Obama's Hit List?
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/08/aclu-anwar-al-awlaki
Why Is It Legal to Kill Anwar al-Awlaki?
http://washingtonindependent.com/81550/why-is-it-legal-to-kill-anwar-al-awlaki
Presidential Dictatorship: Not Thinking Things Through
http://www.lewrockwell.com/grigg/grigg-w161.html
Rep. Dennis Kucinich Seeks to Ban Assassinations of US Citizens
http://www.thenation.com/blog/153899/rep-dennis-kucinich-seeks-ban-assassinations-us-citizens
assassination squad, Anwar Al-Awlaki
http://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/8111,10938
No civilian trial for Anwar al-Awlaki, U.S. citizen
http://www.examiner.com/political-buzz-in-portland/no-civilian-trial-for-anwar-al-awlaki-u-s-citizen
Obama's U.S. assassination program? Part 1 and 2 (by Chuck Norris)
http://www.fourwinds10.com/siterun_data/government/obama_government/news.php?q=1283364340
And of course the king of all things constitutional...
ACLU, CCR seek to have Obama enjoined from killing Awlaki without due process
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/08/03/awlaki/index.html
I'm sure most of you have been following the interesting debate between Greenwald and Andrew Sullivan, but if you haven't, here is good summary.