from Antiwar.com Blog:
Lawsuit Challenges Govt’s Right to Assassinate US Citizens
ACLU, CCR Insist Constitution, International Law Prohibit Summary Killings
by Jason Ditz, August 30, 2010
Email This
Print This
Share This
Antiwar Forum
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed a lawsuit today challenging the right of the Obama Administration to assassinate American citizens outside of any current war zones.
“The United States cannot simply execute people, including its own citizens, anywhere in the world based on its own say-so,” insisted the Executive Director of the CCR Vince Warren.
The Obama Administration however insists that it can do exactly that, when National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair announced to Congress that US-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, against whom no charges have been filed, was on the official CIA “assassination list.”
Though officials never explained where this new power to execute without charges came from, National Counterterrorism Chief Michael Leiter later explained that it would be “irresponsible” not to try to assassinate Awlaki.
The lawsuit is an effort by Awlaki’s father Nasser al-Awlaki to stop the assassination of his son. So far the administration has not addressed this lawsuit.
No comments:
Post a Comment