25-02-2012, 12:14 PM
Pentagon Lawyer Defends Killing of U.S. Citizens Abroad
A top Pentagon lawyer has openly declared the administration's claim to free reign on assassinating U.S. citizens who join al-Qaeda without court review. In a speech at Yale Law School, Jeh Johnson, the Pentagon general counsel, said courts should have no role in reviewing presidential decisions on who can be targeted. Johnson said, "Belligerents who also happen to be U.S. citizens do not enjoy immunity where non-citizen belligerents are valid military objectives." Johnson appeared to be referring to the case of U.S.-born Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike last year. Al-Awlaki's 16-year-old son was also killed two weeks later.
A top Pentagon lawyer has openly declared the administration's claim to free reign on assassinating U.S. citizens who join al-Qaeda without court review. In a speech at Yale Law School, Jeh Johnson, the Pentagon general counsel, said courts should have no role in reviewing presidential decisions on who can be targeted. Johnson said, "Belligerents who also happen to be U.S. citizens do not enjoy immunity where non-citizen belligerents are valid military objectives." Johnson appeared to be referring to the case of U.S.-born Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike last year. Al-Awlaki's 16-year-old son was also killed two weeks later.
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws. - Mayer Rothschild
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass