Has the U.S. Targeted Cleric al-Awlaki for Assassination?

By Jeralyn, Section War on Terror
Posted on Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 08:23:00 AM EST
Tags: Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, Anwar al-Awlaki (all tags)

Share This: Digg!

First we had the congressional hearing at which Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair gave details of information Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (aka Private Underpants) has given to the FBI during debriefing sessions. He also explained that it's acceptable policy for the U.S. to target Americans overseas for assassination.

Now we have more law enforcement leaks about Abdulmutallab's debriefings: He's ratted out cleric (and American citizen) Anwar al-Awlaki. Not that al-Awlaki knew about his Christmas Day attack, just that he was his "teacher" and they had met and communicated, something al-Awlaki also acknowledges. [More...]

A senior U.S. intelligence official said Mr al-Awlaki represented the biggest name on the list of people Mr Abdulmutallab might have information against. His information could provide fresh clues for forces attempting to kill or capture him in the remote mountains of Yemen.

Weeks ago, the U.S. was negotiating with the tribes in Yemen, where al-Awlaki is believed to be hiding out, to turn him in. That hasn't happened. What next? Seems to me our officials staged these public leaks to let al-Alwaki know if he doesn't surrender, he's on our hit list.

If true, it means the lofty, principled United States has put out a contract on al-Awlaki, who has not been charged with a crime, who insists his role is inspirational not operational and that he had no knowledge of either the Ft. Hood killings or Abdulmutallab's Christmas Day attack. Yes, he's a recruiter for Jihadists, and a very successful one. He's associated with AQAP. Does that make it okay to give orders to kill him on sight? Sure seems that's the message.

Have we really moved from torture to outright murder of people we regard as suspects, before we even charge them with a crime? How abysmal, first for the victims killed by such a policy, but especially for us as a nation supposedly dedicated to freedom, due process and the rule of law.

Just the other day I was praising some of the lines in Obama's SOTU address, particularly this one: "America must always stand on the side of freedom and human dignity." Guess it was just a soundbite after all.

< Thursday Night Open Thread | Franken Eviscerates Axelrod >

Legal

Nothing on this site should be construed as legal advice. TalkLeft does not give legal advice.

TalkLeft is not responsible for and often disagrees with material posted in the comments section. Read at your own risk.

Has the U.S. Targeted Cleric al-Awlaki for Assassination? | 29 comments (29 topical)

Readers Must Login or Create an Account to Comment

Constitutional Law Professor. (5.00 / 1) (#2)
by observed on Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 05:08:01 AM EST

Not much of a team-player these (5.00 / 0) (#4)
by kidneystones on Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 07:20:49 AM EST

days, are you Jeralyn? Thank goodness.

Some Dems think this administration needs a tongue bath.
Between targeted assassinations and Wall Street bailouts, ruinous unemployment and record deficits, hiring more mercenaries and expanding two wars, it's pretty clear the Republicans won the WH, Senate, and the House in 2008.

Sadly, this ain't news.... (5.00 / 1) (#8)
by kdog on Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 08:13:21 AM EST

Have we really moved from torture to outright murder of people we regard as suspects, before we even charge them with a crime?

I don't think government assasination of citizens or foreigners is a new policy at all..its what the CIA does as part of s.o.p.

What is new is being so brazen about it...new that is becoming acceptable behavior that the government must feel is no longer necessary to keep secret.

Sun God help us.

This.... (2.00 / 0) (#3)
by jarober on Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 05:17:48 AM EST

Is why treating war acts judicially gets messy. When you have an enemy combatant sitting in a hostile land where there's no rule of law, it gets to be pretty difficult to issue subpoenas...

Or, to put it the other way, (5.00 / 1) (#24)
by Peter G on Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 11:42:42 AM EST

this is why treating international criminal conspiracies as if they were armies at war with the U.S., and then applying the "rules" of modern war (which is to say, apparently, no rules), gets worse than "messy." (Starting with: they don't wear uniforms and carry their weapons openly, therefore every one of them is an "unlawful combatant." Cf. Blackwater contractors, our intelligence operatives in action overseas, etc.) It becomes "war" without any of the "law of war" being applied -- either the U.S. Constitutional law, or the international humanitarian law. And where there is no rule of law, there is no true civilization.


: what's your point? (none / 0) (#27)
by diogenes on Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 07:41:30 PM EST

Should we ask Yemen to extradite this fellow and put him on Interpol posters until he is found? Or is it OK to try to kill him?

The President orders the hits (none / 0) (#1)
by caseyOR on Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 03:19:36 AM EST

on American citizens. Glenn Greenwald explains this very well (I'd link to him, but the Salon site is undergoing "maintenance"). The president, and the president alone, with no judicial review, no requirement that any safeguards be taken, has the authority to decide that an American citizen, any American citizen, will be assassinated.

This newly minted power of our president's is not limited to ordering hits on Americans who are actively trying to kill other Americans; it is not limited to Americans who are proven to be members of an Al Quaida group; it is not limited to Americans who are out of the country. President Obama is claiming the power to order a hit on any American citizen living in the United States or anywhere else, with no more reason than Obama thinks this person is a terrorist. No requirement that a crime be committed, much less that a trial be held.

And, as we have oh so sadly learned, once a president claims a new executive power and that claim is allowed to stand, every succeeding president will have that power. Think about that-- President Palin or President Paul Ryan with the power to order the killing of any American, anywhere.

Read Glenn when the Salon site comes back up. It is all quite horrifying.

Im more concerned about (5.00 / 1) (#22)
by jondee on Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 11:09:19 AM EST

the established precedent of interested parties being able to "cook the intelligence" (with the help of a media kitchen staff), that leads to assassinations -- and wars, with complete and utter impunity.


It is disturbing that there is no (none / 0) (#12)
by Militarytracy on Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 10:06:38 AM EST

check on this power. I don't feel endangered by President Obama but who knows who will be President next round.


I worry (none / 0) (#14)
by mmc9431 on Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 10:19:42 AM EST

My worrying in regard to Obama is that he's continuing to lower the bar that I thought had hit rock bottom


Considering the assassinations (none / 0) (#17)
by Militarytracy on Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 10:36:37 AM EST

that took place when we almost lost Baghdad under Bush, I don't see how they can lower that bar any lower. I am told that people died who should have never died and I have no evidence, only talk from long faces. This President does seem to have strict rules, though we aren't allowed to know what those are and guessing on such a thing can't be beneficial to anyone. I have no way of comforting you or myself outside of saying that I can't see how Obama could lower the bar any lower than where he inherited it outside of dropping a nuke on a village with a couple of Al Qaeda in it.


: Sadly (5.00 / 1) (#21)
by mmc9431 on Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 10:41:30 AM EST

The older I get the deeper the bottom seems to go. I grew up on Superman who fought for "Truth, justice and the American way"!

Kit Bond (none / 0) (#5)
by jbindc on Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 07:41:05 AM EST

Not happy with the WH about leaking information about Abdulmutallab cooperating with officials.

Bond, the ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, wrote a letter to the president this week accusing the White House of sharing information that "reached the ears of our enemies abroad," when it confirmed that the accused Christmas Day bomber was cooperating with law enforcement. He claimed that he had been told to keep information about Abdulmutallab's interrogation strictly confidential.

SNIP

Bond responded by escalating the war of words.
"After telling me to keep my mouth shut, the White House discloses sensitive information in an effort to defend a dangerous and unpopular decision to Mirandize Abdulmutallab and I'm supposed to apologize?" he said in a statement to POLITICO

Bond is retiring this year.

First Goodman says Obama is a "slow learner" and now Kit Bond is calling him out?

Gonna get nastier before it gets better...

Hey, I'm delighted if Republicans (none / 0) (#7)
by observed on Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 08:10:16 AM EST

call Obama a "slow learner" or any other insult.
No, it's not because I agree---it's because it forces Obama away from PPUS garbage.


: Goodman (none / 0) (#9)
by jbindc on Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 08:19:13 AM EST

is actually a Democrat - which makes it more interesting.

Fear sells (none / 0) (#6)
by mmc9431 on Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 07:42:05 AM EST

I received an e-mail from the ACLU yesterday about the Senate renewal of certain provisions of the Patriot Act.

After reading this, I doubt that there's a snowball chance in h#ll of any opposition.

America is supposed to be the home of the brave. Yet we continually allow a group of right wingers to cower us in a corner, whether it's over terror, HCR or the economy.

These same fear tactcs worked well for the hardliners in the 1950's. This time instead of a black list, we'll just shoot them.

I'll be blunt (none / 0) (#11)
by Militarytracy on Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 10:03:25 AM EST

If you teach and enable terrorism or take part in terrorism, our forces will hunt you down and kill you and they will not be sorry. They are probably trying to get him to turn himself over so that they can further understand the framework of the terrorism structure that exists in Yemen. This is our new reality no matter who is President. I find it absurd to think that any sitting President will invite terrorist acts or gamble with the possibility of them ever again. Those days of feeling secure yet knowing about the risks are over. JSOC will hunt you, JSOC will kill you, end of discussion. If they release the last of the Gitmo prisoners and they join terrorist networks, they will be hunted and killed.

If only this were true.... (5.00 / 0) (#13)
by kdog on Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 10:11:06 AM EST

If you teach and enable terrorism or take part in terrorism, our forces will hunt you down and kill you and they will not be sorry

More accurate would be if you teach and enable certain strains of terrorism, we'll farkin' kill ya. Other strains are just peachy, in fact we're the perpetrator.


: This is probably true at this time (none / 0) (#15)
by Militarytracy on Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 10:27:18 AM EST

If we had Americans forming terrorist cells and schooling terrorism I would think the FBI would address that, and that risk and those individuals we would all think would be in FBI jurisdiction. We do not allow Americans the freedom to form terrorist cells though or preform acts of terrorism. That is not simply okay to do. As for assassinating worldwide Islamic Fundy terrorists right now, I'm having a really really hard time feeling sorry for any of them. Lost too many friends, these people have no respect for the rights of anyone and they never will. If you are captured by them for being from the West, go ahead and explain to them that you are empathetic in any human way, shape, or form. Depending on the group I'd give any one of us about a 10% chance of living to see the next day. Most likely they will hack off any one of our heads simply for their own personal pleasure. I do not know any other way to address the enormous problems of the current Islamic terrorism or the total annihilation wishes and goals that they h