Drone Strikes on Americans
By Melancton Smith • Wednesday February 6, 2013 5:08 AM PDT • 5 Comments
If you have a few minutes, take a look at a government white paper obtained by NBC news on the lawfulness of lethal attacks on U.S. citizens with attachments to terrorists. NBC has this summary of the test for ordering a killing:
the confidential memo lays out a three-part test that would make targeted killings of American lawful: In addition to the suspect being an imminent threat, capture of the target must be “infeasible, and the strike must be conducted according to “law of war principles.” But the memo elaborates on some of these factors in ways that go beyond what the attorney general said publicly. For example, it states that U.S. officials may consider whether an attempted capture of a suspect would pose an “undue risk” to U.S. personnel involved in such an operation. If so, U.S. officials could determine that the capture operation of the targeted American would not be feasible, making it lawful for the U.S. government to order a killing instead, the memo concludes.
The memo sets out broad authority to authorize a killing even if there is no imminent threat, even if the targeted American has never been charged with a crime, and even if the American is not located anywhere near an actual battlefield. The memo also denies that there can be any judicial review of a decision to kill. “There exists no appropriate judicial forum to evaluate these constitutional considerations.”
In a word, this is disturbing.
Tags: Bill of Rights, Civil Liberties, Civil Society, Constitution, crime, Criminal Justice, Defense, Imperialism, Law, Liberty, Peace, Personal Liberty, Power, Presidential Power, Propaganda, Terrorism, The State 
For all intents and purposes the Constitution is a dead letter. It was corrupted by the 16th and 17th Amendments,the Federal Reserve Act,fiat currency,the New Deal,the Great Society and the Patriot Act among other events. It has been so amended,twisted and or ignored that it is now meaningless. In today’s world the politicians have given up even paying lip service to the Constitution. America has gone all the way down the slippery slope from a Constitutional Republic to a Police State. We are no longer a nation of rational,objective law but a nation of men lusting for power. Not only will we see drones in the near future violating people’s rights but a nation that will be filled with extra judicial courts and concentration camps to control the people. Any kind of meaningful decent will be crushed. This is why the state,through the Main Stream Media,have had a frenzy of activity in the direction of taking away the people’s right to keep and maintain firearms. In order to have complete control of the American population the American people must be disarmed. In the final analysis,the Constitution,along with it’s Bill Of Rights, have been watered down,buried and forgotten to the point that any kind of Constitutional protections are long gone. Unfortunately all the fears of the Founding Fathers of 225 years ago have come to fruition.
libertarian jerry | Feb 6, 2013 | Reply
I think it behooves Liberarians to contrast the frustration of watching a Republican Adm that (in your eyes) violate the constititution but meeting push back from the media, the ACLU, the anti-war movement and you; and watching a Democrat Adm do the same and you being the only voice pushing back. I think liberty does not stand a chance.
MG | Feb 6, 2013 | Reply
The only difference, Dear MG, between a Republican and a Democrat is the picture on their posters. In fact, it was a Republican who began to violate the Constitutional process in 1861 to 1865. Said Republican suspended Habeas Corpus. FDR learning from Lincoln’s mistake merely had dissenters mentally hospitalized for “observation” so that they could not hurt themselves (or interred for their safety).
Bruce Welty | Feb 6, 2013 | Reply
Communists and Muslims do go by the Constitution. Most Americans, especially after the last four years, go by the Constitution. The liberal crap written is nothing but one big pile b*** s***. And so are they. Time for Americans to stand up and impeach and jail the lawbreaking Communists and Muslims in the government. Maybe the drones he uses to kill Americans can target the government Muslims and Communists.
roy smith | Feb 6, 2013 | Reply
Men/women who go to war against the United States,and/or do not wear uniforms to denote their status as combatants,as do the terrorists around the world,are called illegal combatants,as was el-Alawaki,and those who hide among the civilian population become responsible for all the casualties engendered by by the means to combat them.PS The Confederacy suspended habeas,and declared martial law before Lincoln.Both sides were fighting a war,and both did pretty much the same thing,EXCEPT that most states in the Union had outlawed slavery,and the South seceeded to maintain slavery.
William Ford | Feb 7, 2013 | Reply