Obama Gets One Right: Seeks To Dismiss Targeted Killing Lawsuit

25 Sep, 2010 by William Teach

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Unlike the Left, who could never give Bush any kudos or credit, even when he was pushing things they like (such as the shamnesty), we can give Obama credit where credit is due

The Obama administration on Saturday invoked the state secrets privilege which would kill a lawsuit on behalf of U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, an alleged terrorist said to be targeted for assassination under a U.S. government program.

In a court filing, the Justice Department said that the issues in the case are for the executive branch of government to decide rather than the courts.

The department also said the case entails information that is protected by the military and state secrets privilege.

Good for them. Al-Awlaki is a scumbag terrorist and a traitor: once a citizen joins a group which has declared a fatwa against the USA and has attacked America and her citizens, they give up their constitutional rights, at least while on foreign soil. If scumbag landed on American soil, yeah, he would have to be accorded Constitutional Rights. While he is hanging with al Qaeda in Yemen, heck no. The DoJ has even said so, as has the Obama administration.

The lawsuit filed on the cleric’s behalf (by the Center for Constitutional Rights and the ACLU) seeks to have a court declare that the Constitution and international law bar the government from carrying out targeted killings; seeks to block the targeted killing of al-Awlaki; and seeks to force the U.S. government to disclose the standards for determining whether U.S. citizens can be targeted for death.

The thing is, the order is not simply for targeted killing: it is a capture or kill order for high value terrorists, much like the old West “dead or alive” posters put out specifically against certain criminals. If al-Awlaki can be captured, they would surely love to do just that, and wring every bit of knowledge out of him (I bet they would use rendition and the “torture” methods the Bush admin used, too). Barring that, if they can kill him, they will. He is an extreme danger to America and the rest of the world.

Obviously, many on the left have a problem with this.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach. Re-Change 2010!