Sen. Ron Wyden has spent two years demanding that the Obama administration share its legal opinions justifying the targeted assassinations of suspected American terrorists abroad. After all, as a member of the Intelligence Committee, the Oregon Democrat is entitled (and cleared) to know. How can his panel provide oversight if officials won’t say what legal authority they have, let alone in which countries it applies? The White House has spent those two years stonewalling. “The administration’s position is basically, ‘Trust us,'” Wyden tells National Journal. “Nowhere in the charge to the committee does oversight get defined as trusting the executive branch of the United States.”
Ask, and ye shall have leaked;
The 16-page memo, a copy of which was obtained by NBC News, provides new details about the legal reasoning behind one of the Obama administration’s most secretive and controversial polices […]
“The condition that an operational leader present an ‘imminent’ threat of violent attack against the United States does not require the United States to have clear evidence that a specific attack on U.S. persons and interests will take place in the immediate future,” the memo states.
Instead, it says, an “informed, high-level” official of the U.S. government may determine that the targeted American has been “recently” involved in “activities” posing a threat of a violent attack and “there is no evidence suggesting that he has renounced or abandoned such activities.” The memo does not define “recently” or “activities.”
So simmer down. It’s not like they’re having their phones tapped.
Ron Paul warned Americans of all of this – this is not news to those who followed the campaign and speeches of The Champion of the Constitution.
Wonder if ‘bama was one of those righteously ‘outraged’ at the secret phone-tappings?
[deleted. Comments that suggest violence against law enforcement are not only deleted, they can get you and your ip address turned over to RCMP – ED]
What is a story like this doing on NBC???
My copy of the Constitution must be defective. There’s nothing in there about killing people because someone wrote a 16 page memo saying it’s OK. Mine says Congress makes the laws.
It didn’t say anything about arming Mexican drug cartels either. Perhaps I have an abridged edition.
If we didn’t have a cabal that puts party before country, this mob would be impeached.
I have the same problem, MarkD. I suspect it’s one of those trialware scams – you know, you don’t get the full text until you’ve donated to the Democratic party.
At these upper levels of governing where international agendas and deep politics are constantly in play, it’s best to remember most of these people are “globalists” not Americans.
One of the genetic traits of globalists is a natural reflex to break the laws the rest of us are bound by. That is because as an ideology/agenda globalist politicians are really just super class gangsters. Quasi secret intel and enforcement agencies are employed like a mob boss directs his crew to intimidate/frame rivals, create orchestrated chaos and make problems “disappear”. Gangster mindset, gangster bearing – it shows in much of what they do. What they say is irrelevant as it is always a lie. How they act is more telling, and increasingly we see top US officials act like gangsters devoid of ethics, unbound by accountability to the public, the law or the constitution.
Stuff like this is why its never a bad day to mock a Lefty. Republican taps phones, its the end of the world. Democrat makes it legal to kill American citizens at whim, and then he goes ahead and DOES it… crickets.
Hey John, and LAS and all your bleeding heart little peacenik friends, this is why we mock you. Because you’re -stupid-.
Of course you know this brings new meaning to the political class ‘droning on’ and not just in speeches…
So we now have the “Assassin In Chief”…?
Thus your death is just a mouse click away, and think of the savings of having to send in a clandestine sniper to the countries in question!
Extra-judicial assassinations; what could possibly go wrong…?
Cheers
Hans Rupprecht, Commander in Chief
1st Saint Nicolaas Army
Army Group “True North”
Damn, and I have to come to Canada to find this out ?
From a comment at AceofSpades ‘We are all skeet now’.
We need a simple “Like” button here …. good one Phantom …
Hans, how can you say that about Barack Obama, the One who rules them all? He has people to click the mouse for him.
Oh I stand corrected Phantom, I wouldn’t want to accuse the “Obama-Nation(tm)” of actually lifting a finger in this regard. :0
Cheers
Hans Rupprecht, Commander in Chief
1st Saint Nicolaas Army
Army Group “True North”
Alright for thee but not for me? Typical Democrat.
Let me correct that headline for you.
“When THIS president does it, that means that it is not illegal”
It was OK to equate GWB with Adolf, but if you painted a tiny mustache on Bambam…
that’s rayyyyycisssssss
What this means is that assassination of its own citizens is now an accepted practice of the US government. It’s only a matter of time before the extra-territoriality guidelines are set aside, and this becomes accepted on US territory as well.
Roman law explicitly prohibited the killing of Roman citizens, even in a state of riot or revolt, from being killed specifically or indiscriminately wihtout a trial. And Roman law is the root of all the legal structures we have today. This policy violates every legal precept in every nation in the western world.
Obama… putting the EXECUTE into “Executive Branch”