End U.S. Assassination Policy -- now authorized to target American citizens
Bush policy now escalated by President Obama to authorize assassination of U.S. citizens
It has been confirmed in a Congressional Hearing on February 4, 2010 and in April 2010 articles in the New York Times and Washington Post that President Obama has authorized that an American citizen who is suspected of plotting against the United States be added to the list of people which the CIA is authorized to assassinate, wherever they may be.
Discussing this issue, law professor Jonathan Turley cites a 1957 Supreme Court decision which found that government assassination of Americans is unconstitutional. http://jonathanturley.org/2010/02/04/is-the-obama-administration-targeting-americans/
President Clinton's agencies stayed within the law and were successful in dealing even with non-citizens after the first World Trade Center bombings in the 1990s. They worked with other countries' intelligence and police to apprehend suspects, brought them into the American justice system where they were convicted, and they remain in prison today. There are laws in place to deal with everything from conspiracy to mass murder to acts of treason.
Numerous plots have been foiled by following lawful operations. And conversely, numerous attempts to assassinate people have killed many others, especially when drone bombs are the method used.
I call on President Obama and Congress to be faithful to their oath of office: to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. They must disavow and dismantle the entire assassination policy, begun by President Reagan in 1981, expanded by President Bush in 2002, and now extended by President Obama to include assassination of American citizens.
Generations have been proud that our country is the land of the free and the home of the brave. Our generation must not let fear give way to short-term expediency and trash the freedoms our ancestors gave their lives to guarantee for us.
Discussing this issue, law professor Jonathan Turley cites a 1957 Supreme Court decision which found that government assassination of Americans is unconstitutional. http://jonathanturley.org/2010/02/04/is-the-obama-administration-targeting-americans/
President Clinton's agencies stayed within the law and were successful in dealing even with non-citizens after the first World Trade Center bombings in the 1990s. They worked with other countries' intelligence and police to apprehend suspects, brought them into the American justice system where they were convicted, and they remain in prison today. There are laws in place to deal with everything from conspiracy to mass murder to acts of treason.
Numerous plots have been foiled by following lawful operations. And conversely, numerous attempts to assassinate people have killed many others, especially when drone bombs are the method used.
I call on President Obama and Congress to be faithful to their oath of office: to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. They must disavow and dismantle the entire assassination policy, begun by President Reagan in 1981, expanded by President Bush in 2002, and now extended by President Obama to include assassination of American citizens.
Generations have been proud that our country is the land of the free and the home of the brave. Our generation must not let fear give way to short-term expediency and trash the freedoms our ancestors gave their lives to guarantee for us.
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