Quote:
Originally Posted by EinsteinsGhost
I don't know that. But even if he didn't, he was engaging in treason and working against the interests of the nation that is supposed to let him do that? That only the hitman is a criminal, but not someone who hires one? That politicians who engage in warfare are innocent because it is really the soldiers who are fighting it, if for the wrong cause?
This guy you speak of, chose not to exercise his rights. He chose to hide from authorities, and he chose to put Americans at risk. Would you have felt better if he had fired back, possibly injuring/killing Americans, to find it acceptable?
I'm not an ideologue, so I don't see a problem with getting such people dead or alive.
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First, treason is a crime for which we routinely DON'T commit extrajudicial killings. But beyond that...
In what sense did he "refuse to exercise his rights?"
He wasn't charged with any crime! He was simply notified by a news article that he was on a list of people the president intended to assasinate and there was no way for him to appeal that decision, no court for him to avail himself to prove his innocence. So of course he hid from the authorities - what choice did he have?
But this isn't about him, and it's not about Obama- At least it's not for me.
It's about whether the United States should allow the President to keep a list of U.S. citizens he plans to assasinate, not be required to tell anyone who is on that list or why they are being targeted for assasination, and should this be done with zero oversight over who, how or why the President chooses to kill other American's.
Even if you believed it worked out well THIS TIME, you have to see how that system can easily spin out of control. You may trust Obama to do the right thing, but Obama won't always be President, and if he has the authority to do this so will the next several, be they Rick Perry or Dick Cheney or whoever you consider to be the worse case scenario.
There are more options than just "Do Nothing" and "Extrajudicial Assasinations."
There are several steps inbetween that could be taken. We could require a unanimous vote of the intel committess before we engaged in extrajudicial killings of Americans. We could require a full report be completed after each killing, describing who was killed and why they were killed. There are many things that could be done short of a full trial that would provide at least SOME safeguards.
Right now though, the President has full unrestricted power to assasinate american citizens and there is no oversight or accountability for how that process is completed.
That is not only dangerous, it is wrong.
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