Cheney’s revenge
The white paper has ignited not quite a firestorm (again, this isn’t the Bush administration), but at least a smoldering ember of brow-furrowed consternation among the president’s supporters and journalistic sympathizers who find the document “chilling.”
They rarely say what their alternative would be. Does a U.S. citizen get an exemption from targeting if he joins Al Qaeda at a high level? Should his status be litigated before he can be targeted, and if so, by whom and for how long and on the basis of what evidence? Can he show up in the court room to confront his accusers, a basic element of the Anglo-American system? Should al-Awlaki have gotten a court-appointed lawyer (assuming Gloria Allred wasn’t available) and access to all the intelligence about him so he could properly contest it? Maybe over Skype from somewhere in the badlands of Yemen?
It is self-evidently absurd. Civil libertarians lament that the argument of the white paper parallels the reasoning of the Bush administration. No kidding.
It’s not for nothing that the author of the white paper sounds like he could have worked for Dick Cheney. The Obama administration’s approach reflects the logic of the laws of war, the structure of American government and the exigencies of the fight against Al Qaeda.
Blowback
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My Rules of Engagement:
Capture enemy.
Take to some secret place.
Torture info out of him.
Take him out back and shoot him.
Repeat as necessary.
platypus on February 7, 2013 at 8:12 PM
Oh Rich, you poor sad sap…now Moreliberty and a host of folkz are just going to trash you.
Because, D@mnit, American citizens are sacrosanct…they can do pretty much anything, because they are US citizens…
Statist Neo-Con…out.
JFKY on February 7, 2013 at 8:13 PM
It’s amusing that lawmakers can pay the time to pass internet security laws and hate crime laws ..
But can’t be bothered enough to pass a budget – or laws that actually protect the civil rights of Americans.
This country is a complete joke – then again – it appears the whole world is too.
HondaV65 on February 7, 2013 at 8:13 PM
Then why am I not LMAO?
platypus on February 7, 2013 at 8:14 PM
I guess Honda it’s because Congress can walk and chew gum at the same time…they don’t have to all be writing a budget…and it’s not a priority ordered list, Budget first, then Internet Laws, then Hate Crimes….
Is it a travesty they haven’t passed one in three years yes…but just because they haven’t done one thing, doesn’t preclude them from doing other things…even though those things are of lesser overall value and probably have been F*cked up, too.
JFKY on February 7, 2013 at 8:18 PM
Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi proved that.
malclave on February 7, 2013 at 8:27 PM
Seems to me there should be the same process for declaring American Al Quieda “Wanted, dead or alive” as has been done historically. If you are going to target them with killing or capture, you better darn well have charged them with something, giving them the opportunity to surrender themselves.
Count to 10 on February 7, 2013 at 8:33 PM
Two Tums Up
Tilly on February 7, 2013 at 8:42 PM
Bush’s fault! It sounds like something we think Cheney might have written, if he were to write something obviously unconstitutional, so this is all Bush’s fault! Whew, liberals can sleep safely tonight knowing that, this too, can be blamed on George W Bush.
pitythefool on February 7, 2013 at 9:00 PM
Speaking from a strictly military operational standpoint.
That’s the stupidest thing I have ever heard.
Encourage our enemies to fight to the death because if we capture them they are dead as soon as we interrogate them?
Need proof? Research the island hopping campaign of WW II. The Japenese told their own troops they were going to die, and to take as many US troops with them as possible. And US casualties were so high they were kept Top Secret. Tarawa, Guadacanal, Iwo Jima, Okinowa.
There are two objectives in war. Destroy the enemies ability to fight. And destory the enemies WILL to fight. Those who lack the will to fight, surrender.
Your way will only increase US casualties.
Hog Wild on February 7, 2013 at 10:21 PM
This comes on the heels of allowing any Barak, Jose, or Abdul to become an American citizen with insufficient background checks because the party is actively courting the illegal alien vote.
cthulhu on February 7, 2013 at 10:43 PM
This country is a joke. When the government can murder a US citizen, one that is not an imminent threat, and affords them no due process we all have lost. Combine this with portions of of the NDAA of 2012 that give the executive branch the ability to indefinitely detain US citizens on US soil, without their due process, and it is very disheartening. Not because I give a rats ass about AL Qeada but because of the reality that nothing can really stop the government from doing it to others they disagree with. You people have a lot of confidence and trust that these tool won’t be turned against you some day. A government that is financially, morally on the verge of collapse will do anything to survive.
MoreLiberty on February 8, 2013 at 4:12 AM