Anticipating that Donald Trump might try to fulfill his promises to “bomb the shit” out of terror groups and do a “hell of a lot worse than waterboarding,” President Obama released a report on Monday summarizing his administration’s views of the legal barriers and policies limiting the president’s military power.
The 61-page report calls for trying terrorism suspects in civilian court and explains at length why no future president could legally torture detainees. It lays out the administration’s self-imposed limits on military operations — and declares that a 2001 resolution Congress passed in the wake of 9/11 is not a blank check to go to kill alleged terrorists wherever they are.
“It clearly reads like an explanation, a textbook that’s left for the next person,” said Naureen Shah, director of the Security With Human Rights Program at Amnesty International. “Here are all the things you cannot do.”
But in trying to defend Obama’s legacy, the report paints a picture of an administration far more restrained than it was in practice.
The report comes just weeks before Trump will inherit bombing campaigns in seven countries, a legally unaccountable drone program, and an open prison at Guantanamo Bay.
The new report is the latest in a series of public steps Obama has recently taken to give the appearance of reining his war powers. Over the summer, for instance, the White House released its internal guidelines for drone strikes outside of war zones and issued a new executive order calling for more transparency on casualties going forward.
But both documents could be revoked by a stroke of the next president’s pen – a fact that CIA Director John Brennan admitted at an event in July.
Obama dramatically escalated the use of drones to kill alleged terrorists far away from recognized warzones. In an October interview with New York Magazine, Obama noted that his executive reforms to the drone program were motivated by concern he would hand off a killing program with no oversight or controls. “You end up with a president who can carry on perpetual wars all over the world, and a lot of them covert, without any accountability or democratic debate,” said Obama.
But more quietly, Obama has continued to expand the power of the president to wage covert war. The Washington Post reported last month that Obama was elevating Joint Special Operations Command – the government’s high-level team for global killing missions – into a “ new multiagency intelligence and action force,” with expanded power to launch attacks on terrorist groups around the world.
As for its discussion of the drone program, Monday’s report repackages many of the Obama administration’s favorite propaganda lines for the next president: The report refers to assassinations with the hazy phrase “targeted lethal force”; It adamantly maintains that the U.S. has a preference for capturing terrorists over killing them, while it has routinely demonstrated the opposite; and the report celebrates the clandestine killing program for its “transparency,” despite the fact that the president did not publicly discuss the program until 2013. In addition, most of the documents made public from the program were released due to leaks, Congressional pressure, and lawsuits.
The report also adopts the administration’s practice of whitewashing civilian death tolls, arguing that the administration’s record on civilian casualties exceeds “the safeguards that apply as a matter of law in the course of an armed conflict.” Earlier in the summer, the administration released a ludicrously conservative estimate of the number of civilians killed by U.S. drones in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia. The administration claimed that they had killed between 64 and 116 civilians, while independent estimates say the number could be as high as nine times that.
In outlining standards “for the use of lethal force,” the report advocates a “near certainty” standard that the target is present, and that innocent people not be injured or killed. In doing so, the Obama administration is advocating a policy that they have appeared to repeatedly violate – including when U.S. drones struck a Yemeni wedding party in December 2013, and in January 2015, when the CIA killed two aid workers held hostage in Pakistan.
The report outlines additional legal safeguards the Obama administration claims it applied before it killed American citizen Anwar al-Awlaki – the only American citizen who it says was hit by a “specific, targeted strike.” The report does not mention the other seven U.S. citizens who were killed by drones.
The report boasts that American citizens have due process rights under the Fourth and Fifth Amendment no matter where they are, and cautions the Trump administration to take Constitutional rights into consideration when “assessing whether it is lawful to target the individual.”
But the Obama administration has consistently fought to undermine those Constitutional protections. For instance, it has argued that citizens cannot go to court to challenge their place on a government kill list, and courts have no role to play in oversight after a strike has taken place.
A large portion of the report is devoted to justifying how far the war on terror has expanded, and how a 2001 resolution passed in the wake of the 9/11 attacks could be stretched to cover wars 15 years later in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Libya, along with drone bombings and other operations in Yemen and Somalia. The report does not mention Pakistan, where the U.S. has also waged a secret drone war since 2004.
Presidents Bush and Obama have cited the resolution to justify military action from Libya to the Philippines, and critics have argued that it provides a president with blank check authority to go after insurgent groups with loose affiliations to the September 11 attacks.
But the report argues that the resolution is not an authorization to wage unlimited war against insurgent groups. The report says that in order to be considered an “associated force” of al Qaeda, an insurgent group must not only be “an organized, armed group that has entered the fight alongside al-Qa’ida or the Taliban,” it must also be “a co-belligerent… in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners.”
But the recent move to designate the Somali insurgent group al-Shabaab as an “associated force” of al Qaeda illustrates how slippery the standard is.
The report offers the administration’s first on-the-record explanation of why it added al-Shabaab to its list, despite the fact that Al-Shabaab has never demonstrated a capability to attack the U.S. homeland. According to the report, they were nonetheless designated because they “pledged loyalty to al Qaeda,” and have conducted attacks against “U.S. persons and interests in East Africa.”
But the fact that the administration’s decision was unilateral and unaccountable – and made without any public demonstration of the evidence to support it – serves as a tutorial for future abuse.
Taking a firmer note, the report argues forcefully that torture is illegal and cites U.S. laws, treaties, executive orders, and regulations that make it so.
But it does not offer an explanation for why the Obama administration failed to prosecute CIA torture in the Bush administration – a failure that rights groups frequently blame for the continued public support for torture.
Human rights advocates praised the report for its opposition to torture and lawlessness in war, but argued that its framework would allow some violations to slip through the cracks.
“Another way to put it is that it is trying to make sure the floodgates are closed while leaving some doors unlocked,” said Shah. “And that’s what’s frightening.”
The White House issued a companion memo instructing the next administration to build on the framework of the report, and revise and reissue it for future years. But that memo, like many of the order and directives in the report, could simply be discarded on a whim by the Trump administration.
Top photo: A pilot’s heads up display in a ground control station shows a truck from the view of a camera on an MQ-9 Reaper during a training mission.
The American state of Georgia accuses Unites States of America of trying to hack its election systems one week after the election. PropOrNot?
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/09f0f2c081e34110b6e4f6bd0b7eec9b/georgia-accuses-us-trying-hack-its-election-systems
WASHINGTON (AP) — The state of Georgia on Thursday accused the U.S. Homeland Security Department of apparently trying to hack its election systems
In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, Georgia Secretary of State Brian P. Kemp said a computer traced back to the federal agency in Washington tried unsuccessfully to penetrate the state office’s firewall one week after the presidential election. The letter speculated that what it described as “a large unblocked scan event” might have been a security test.
It sought details, including whether the agency did in fact conduct the unauthorized scan, who authorized it and whether other states might have been similarly probed. Kemp cited the federal law against knowingly accessing a computer without authorization or exceeding authorized access, which is a felony.
“At no time has my office agreed to or permitted DHS to conduct penetration testing or security scans of our network,” Kemp wrote. “Moreover, your department has not contacted my office since this unsuccessful incident to alert us of any security event that would require testing or scanning of our network.”
Kemp said this was “especially odd and concerning” given that he is a member of the U.S. Election Infrastructure Cybersecurity Working Group run by the Homeland Security Department.
” The Washington Post reported last month that Obama was elevating Joint Special Operations Command – the government’s high-level team for global killing missions – into a “ new multiagency intelligence and action force,” with expanded power to launch attacks on terrorist groups around the world.”
What, like GI JOE ??
Well when you compare him to the great and powerful OZ and think about how he was hamstrung by an ‘unfriendly’ Congress and Senate, you might agree, to some extent, that Obama is right. Hopefully Trump will make up for those shortcomings.
Unfortunately, DT will fit right in.
“But the Obama administration has consistently fought to undermine those Constitutional protections. For instance, it has argued that citizens cannot go to court to challenge their place on a government kill list, and courts have no role to play in oversight after a strike has taken place.”
body odour is a coward.
“The report outlines additional legal safeguards the Obama administration claims it applied before it killed American citizen Anwar al-Awlaki – the only American citizen who it says was hit by a “specific, targeted strike.” The report does not mention the other seven U.S. citizens who were killed by drones.”
bo is a coward.
“But it does not offer an explanation for why the Obama administration failed to prosecute CIA torture in the Bush administration – a failure that rights groups frequently blame for the continued public support for torture.”
b o is a pitiful coward; see second picture from bottom in the related stories list.
“President Obama released a report on Monday summarizing his administration’s views of the legal barriers and policies limiting the president’s military power.”
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/us-dropped-23144-bombs-muslim-majority-countries-2015
U.S. Dropped 23,144 Bombs on Muslim-Majority Countries in 2015
Nobel Peace Prize-winner President Obama dropped a serious amount of ordnance last year.
Fear Trump will bomb the shit out of somebody?????
And I would say easily a vast majority of Muslims voted FOR the dems in all elections since Bush’s first term.
Anyone see the irony?
This “report” by the Obama Inc. killing machine is actually
not about limiting anything predatory.
The title of the “report” should have been
“Here Is How To Lie To The Human Resources So That They
Will Believe Something Which Is The Opposite Of What You Do.”
Trump clearly is having a hard time managing his Lies and
here we have an example of how to be a more professional Liar
by one of the best smooth talkin’ charlatans .
Obama lecturing about how to deal with foreign policy issues is a joke and a human disaster, He and Hillary are in large part guilty of causing massive death and destruction in Libya and Syria,
He has no room really to talk, Although that will not keep Obama from doing so, The MSM allows Obama and Cllinton to strut around as if they are inot guilty of war crimes
And Christmas help translates into the job king,when 16,000,000 jobs in 96 months is 160,000 per month,and pathetic,when one needs 300,000 a month to keep up with the expanding workforce.
Obama is a truly great person, regardless of what people say about him. He gave up the use of pot and cocaine as soon as he was elected. Few people have the discipline and will power to overcome sustained drug abuse. We are indeed lucky that he could produce doctored proof that he was born in Hawaii and not in Kenya, else we could never have ISIS folks crawling all over the planet waiting to be exterminated before they can suicide bomb.
http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2013-06-20/nsa-whistleblower-nsa-spying-%E2%80%93-and-blackmailing-%E2%80%93-top-government-officials-an
interesting views at this link on why Obama compromised.
Just posting this here for comment. I knew this of India (everyone is compromised) but of the US too? Very possible. This would be one of the ways in which the Deep State obtains powers and exerts control.
Was 9/11 a Coup D’etat of the shadow government and its intelligence appartuses in the US? at https://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/4ihj7j/was_911_a_coup_detat_of_the_shadow_government_and/
“I had long thought that the Coup D’etat happened when JFK was assassinated, however, upon further examination, I now believe that was just the first step to the full and total takeover of the powerful few. This may seem obvious, but let me explain a little bit about the full extent of this takeover.
What brought me to this conclusion was a recent podcast on Boiling Frogs Post that you can find HERE. Sibel Edmonds discloses that hundreds of our politicians including Supreme Court Justices have very dirty secrets and all of the intelligence apparatuses know about those indiscretions. (She heavily hints that pedophilia is common among those politicians.) This is a great podcast, so I recommend listening to it in its entirety.
I was somewhat dumbfounded that I had never made this connection before that all of the intelligence arms of the government (CIA, NSA, FBI) can now wiretap and videotape anyone at any level of our government and use that information as blackmail – thanks to the Patriot Act. This not only includes all of Congress, but Supreme Court Justices and appointed Judges at the Federal level, too. And even if THEY are squeaky clean, what about their spouses, children, relatives or close friends?
In essence, it doesn’t matter one bit who we vote for, even at the local level. EVERYONE IS COMPROMISED.
If I’m missing something let me know and I welcome your feedback.”
Americans need to start asking, is the US engaged in a genocidal war against Muslims?
9/11 was a coup. Islam has been both demonized and ghettoized. All religions reform in peace-time. Middle-eastern Islam unfortunately with its oil heritage is being pushed back to the middle ages by the actions of the US and its dictator allies like Saudi Arabia. The only interest here is greed for oil and imperial ambitions. Israel is more like a fig leaf.
War can only sustain in so-called democracies by demonizing the enemy. Thus the war on Islam first demonizes it and then bombs, invades and conquers countries.
The two George Bushes, the two Clintons, and Obama are all guilty of unleashing a genocidal war on Arab Muslims.
Anwar Al-Awlaki was droned to death by Obama as part of a 9/11 coverup. Awlaki who evidence shows was a CIA/FBI asset around 2001 was in touch with the 9/11 hijackers. The FBI chose not to investigate this connection with 9/11 and he was hung out to dry. Now Awlaki, one of the 9/11 patsies, knew something of the insider involvement plot behind 9/11. So he was essentially targeted in the US by the FBI, and forced into exile. After that he became radicalized, whether on his own, or to protect himself, or at the suggestion of his CIA spy friends. Then he was available for use as the Islamic preacher patsy who was blamed for inciting multiple terror attacks.
Finally, the man who knew too much had to be got rid off. And so Obama put Awlaki on an illegal kill-list and droned him. His son was also droned probably to silence the family.
Lets not whitewash the truth.
BTW, https://theintercept.com/2016/07/15/saudi-ties-to-911-detailed-in-documents-suppressed-since-2002/?comments=1#comments is a great thread of comments on 9/11 and on Anwar Al-Awlaki.
Yes,the government used Awlaki as a Muslim spokesman after 9-11.
You might be on to something there,because something made Awlaki unpalatable to USzion.
Another reason they don’t want Trump?
Mr. Emmons
I cannot tell you how upset I was when learned that Awlaki had been assassinated. Despite Awlaki calling for six weeks of Koran study for a Seattle cartoonist who insulted the Prophet Muhammed, and Awlaki’s name being associated with numerous peaceful protests against US drone activity, it just seemed so unfair of Obama to kill him when he could have simply delivered a warrant for his arrest (UPS or Fed Ex) and extradited him to Cuba.
And didn’t Greenwald publish an article on 150 “terrorists” bombed in Somalia? Glen was completely right. The US had absolutely no clue who they bombed. The drone operator cannot tell a terrorist from a ballerina at those altitudes. Could have been anyone for Pete’s sake. The US needs to immediately pay restitution to the innocent Muslim victims. And besides probably bombing the wrong Muslims, what has al-Shabaab done anyway besides sign up for some classes at Garissa University in Kenya – and then refuse to pay out of state tuition? Does that require bombing?
And I can’t believe that the US has bombed seven predominantly Muslim countries under the Obama administration. SEVEN! Jesus Christ. Didn’t Obama win the Nobel Peace Prize? And don’t you win that award when you are peaceful, or do something that enables a peaceful resolution – like Yassir Arafat? Scattering body parts all over seven countries seems to be counterproductive, and no doubt, every single last one of those victims were innocent farmers, teachers or even young girls walking to school accompanied by a Taliban chaperone. Shameful. Just plain shameful. Thankfully, Trump has come along at the right time to change some of those misguided, hurtful and racist policies.
Thanks for bringing this war on the innocents to our attention Mr. Emmons.
say what you like but what America is looking for is the number of Palestinians murdered today to steal land and blame America. Also since you seem to be so knowledgeable it is important that you deliver a report on the lies the wallstreet media is putting out about the recent bombing of hospitals in syria which they are busy denying. Also you should detail the lies that the wallstreet media is asking people in Haifa to place into the msm that gets American youth murdered.
thank you in advance.
Laws (forget memos, recommendations and transparency) are meaningless if there is punishment/accountability for those that break the supposed rules. Instead you have a wink and a nod from the system about what the real agenda is.
Both of these things can simultaneously be true. Mr. Obama has indeed spent 8 years expanding executive power. But that doesn’t mean that Mr. Trump can’t expand it further. Every president has seen an increase in their powers because they stand on the shoulders of their predecessors.
Well, at least one day his noble visage will look good printed on our currency – that is, if cash still exists.
His Presidency appears to have been all about symbolism, which as salutary as that example was, in practice still left us in the lurch.
We were promised hope and change, but didn’t even get chump change. Now, we are left to contemplate Trump change…
I just feel really sad when I read this.
I wish people valued life and liberty, especially when those people are the people in power.
Obama is so totally full of shit. I can’t stand to hear him talk about anything. He is as much a stranger to the truth as anyone in the world. He is a disgusting example of a tragic waste of human potential. At the very least, he could have done no harm rather than add to and perpetuate harm.
“You end up with a president who can carry on perpetual wars all over the world, and a lot of them covert, without any accountability or democratic debate,” said Obama.
He got it, why did he not stop it?
no worries! It’s nice to know that kidnapping murder and torture of US citizens authorised by the NDAA (Carl Levin) by a president or nsa cia f…b…i… or subcontractor is not an act of war. Just know that if you are kidnapped tortured and murdered and then escape, even tho you have no recourse, you serverd your country.
Welcome, 3rd World USA
Jimmy Dore: OBAMA Expands War In Somalia-GUESS WHY!? (approx. 9.30 mins)
great report. thanks.
President Obama’s insistance that war powers are limited is re-assuring because Americans concerned about the NDAA which allows for the kidnaping torture and murder of Americans without admission and without due process need to realize that such acts have nothing to do with war and everything to do with administrators or presidents gone mad. Of course much of these activities are farmed out to subcontractors who would do the murder torture and kidnapping but what are the odds of that? This is America.
The way I read this it is an indictment of Obama and justification for Trump’s future actions if he does the same or more! Explain to me again about moral relativity???
It doesn’t justify Trump’s future actions at all. You pulled that out of nowhere. The article shows that the alarming powers now entrenched into the Executive have actually been expanded by Obama, in spite of his lying rhetoric, making Trump’s apparent wish to continue the USA’s killing and oppressing with impunity easier to accomplish.
Whether or not he follows through, Trump has made it pretty clear that he intends to aggressively go after ISIS for the kill, but also intends to back out of engagements elsewhere which cannot be justified based on any vital US national interests. (On my list, that would be all of them.)
I suspect a lot of people agree that those are right-sized priorities.
It is one thing to disavow “nation building” in other lands. It is another thing entirely to successfully resist that temptation and set about re-building our own nation in our own land.
That’s our first and most important responsibility, not our last and least.
big brother government does not have the power to terrorize people and wage a jihad on drugs, but they do anyway
A lecture from President Lipservice for the next War-Criminal-In-Chief. A better way of dissuading future presidents from deciding that no laws and treaties actually apply to them is by prosecuting past presidents that flagrantly instigated wars of aggression based on lies and permitted and approved the use of torture. At what point when you cover for someone else’s crimes and go on to commit your own by bombing hospitals (Doctors Without Borders ring any bells?) and killing many civilians in the perpetual War-On-Terror with drones do your actions become crimes? Possibly Obama’s last ditch effort to rewrite history by conflating his actions during his presidency with “being remembered” as the president that issued a proclamation on what the actions of a president should be limited to. Do as I say, not as I do.
This was my reply to Mr. Ben Whitmore when he suggested I had implied that the killing of 3000 people was justified , the WTC Massacre , was justified because i said ” Might Makes Right ” . There ain’t no Right or Wrong in this world . And there sure ain’t no Justice .
Its just a lot of killing ! That’s the way I see it . Any one with some evidence to the contrary can present it now !!
And please , Tiny Tim is just a tale !
____________________________________________________________
Pal , I’m not talking about Justice . That’s all a bunch of priest & lawyer BS . They gave us –JUSTIFIABLE-JUSTIFICATION ( e.g. the DOJ ) !
What I’m talking about are animals ! And the human species , animal that it is , has taken killing its own to a level never encountered before .
Ya’ll better take a look at us , all of us , for what we are , and stop the god-damned killing !!
Time is running out .
Really appreciate this article and its unflinching view. It’s one of the most clear and intelligent indictments of Obama’s evil and hypocrisy I’ve ever read.
The “report” was a waste of 61 pages. It’s merely a list of all the things Obama didn’t do, and a foolish and pointless attempt to tie the hands of the next administration. Coming from a President who studiously ignored the War Powers Act, and who clearly has no compunction about violating the most basic humanitarian strictures on his conduct, this report is particularly galling.
It will go directly into the circular file, where it belongs. Hopefully right after most of Obama’s illegal Executive Orders.
>The report boasts that American citizens have due process rights under the Fourth and Fifth Amendment no matter where they are
Al-Alwaki was an American. Whatever else or however much of a piece of shit he was, he deserved due process of law, not assassination. The President of the United States authorized the assassination of an American Citizen, ignoring the Constitutional rights granted to that Citizen. This, among many many many many other actions, destroys the legitimacy of government rule. The peasants are awakened, and revolted.
When is a US president going to formally end the “War on Terror”? As long as the US is officially at war, the president has vast and dangerous extra powers.
Might Makes Right !—- all the other stuff is propaganda .
Surprise ! Surprise !
The overwhelming majority of humans want to control destiny . Sometimes its just to be able to get a cup of coffee and a donut . Sometimes its wanting to control the planet . And sometimes the priests and lawyers rape and pillage for pleasure .
So you’re saying that because Al Qaeda had to power to hijack planes and fly them into the World Trade Centre, they were justified in doing so? If ISIL manages to behead some people, fair enough?
Is that what I said ?
Look , I made a statement about our species . I don’t play on no tribal team !
Get a grip and try to think !!!
Pal , I’m not talking about Justice . That’s all a bunch of priest & lawyer BS . They give us –JUSTIFIABLE-JUSTIFICATION ( aka DOJ ) !
What I’m talking about are animals ! And the human species , animal that it is , has taken killing its own to a level never encountered before .
Ya’ll better take a look at us , all of us , for what we are , and stop the god-damned killing !!
Time is running out .
You got that right. Proof of that is our media talking heads lining up for secret meetings with Trump already.
I hope Trump ends all the wars and brings all the troops home. Put America First and MAGA. We have zero national interests at stake in any of the conflicts.
National Interests ? The people running the show have no interests other than their own . It the Human Race pal . Get over that crap you were fed when growing up .
It — is– the Human Race pal .
Obama is merely following the time honored tradition of government leaders the world over, using his last days in office to whitewash his record so as to ease his transition in the eyes of the public into the role of an elder statesman. Perhaps he hopes that his legacy will be the warning that he has issued about unfettered presidential powers, but I for one hope that future historians give adequate coverage to his actual record as opposed to his occasionally rational statements.
I agree with those who contend that Donald Trump will be no worse than Hillary Clinton would have been in exercising restraint vis a vis wars of aggression. It is too bad that once again the US electorate chose to return virtually all the corrupt individuals to their seats in Congress, for it is Congress that has abrogated its responsibility, thus allowing a succession of presidents to exert ever more of the authority that the Constitution gave to the legislative branch.
Is triplespeak a thing?
Is a thing a thing ? ” Depends on what Is is . ” ——— from the famous quotes of Un ited States Presidents .
You mean the noble peace prize winning Obama made it easier to bomb? How surprising…
He’s launched more cruise missiles than all other NPP recipients combined.
h/t Steven Colbert
As for the lies he’s told, I’m with you, Hillfarmer. “How surprising.”
Great article and it proves fascism isn’t coming to America with Trump — It’s already here.
“I’m really good at killing people.”
“We came. We saw. He died!”
Clinton/Bush/Obama, all have forked tongues.
Nice article holding Obama to account.
“You end up with a president who can carry on perpetual wars all over the world, and a lot of them covert, without any accountability or democratic debate,”
Obama describes himself. Obama with his multiple faces and lies was a more dangerous President than Trump can ever be.
Trump if anything looks like one of those people who cannot lie for long.
Hey, kids! Do you know how America spells ‘irrelevant’?
O-B-A-M-A!
This is just rich. The hypocrisy on the part of Obama is just breathtaking.
Yes! Mental exceptionalism that o.n.l.y. others can ever do harm– CrookdClinton as well,
the expansion of the use of drones – – – the un-seen sanitary war.. . don’t upset the public
You make it sound as if there is some consensus that targeted killing is synonymous with assassination. None exists. It is a very contentious matter and your labeling it as “propaganda” really only serves to wall off discussion. The ACLU, Glenn Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill and others would have been arguing for years that Anwar Al-Awlaki was “assassinated,” and it hasn’t been a very compelling argument.
It is not compelling on this side odf the oceans!
PresBush “oceans donot protect us” is not the rule.
Back into trying to redefine/remorph words to suit our purpose: assassinate= tomurder a person usu by a surprise attack urder= to kill unlawfully in premeditated manner.
Not compelling here in US bcno one cares,does not make it right, nor does it make it without consequences.
I think I’ll pass on this trainwreck of a response…
Your soul is dark and hellish.
No hirried spelling mistakes here.
Not sure which parts of the above definition you think don’t apply to Al-Awlaki. But quibbling over terminology seems to be a favorite technique of those who don’t care to address the Constitutional violations of Obama’s programs, or their expansion/applications.
The fact that you personally don’t find an argument compelling is meaningless wrt whether or not the argument is correct.
Pedinska= thank you! …On the behalf of Humanity!
That was your rebuttal? Pasting the first thing that popped up on the Wikipedia page for “Assassination.”
Al-Awlaki wasn’t killed “for political reasons” or “payment” but because he was complicit in attacks against the U.S. from his shack in Yemen. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/12042126/How-al-Qaeda-cleric-Anwar-al-Awlaki-told-the-underpants-bomber-to-pray.html
The EO prohibiting assassination says that “No person employed by or acting on behalf of the USG shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, assassination.” The order did not define what constitutes the term and neither does federal law.
As for Awlaki: He could not be tried since he was not in the custody of the U.S and we don’t have trials in absentia; he wasn’t willing to be arrested; and his capture was infeasible as Yemen did not control that area and sending in a force to capture him would present risks to soldiers and violate Yemeni sovereignty (not that that’s stopped them before with OBL in Pakistan).
But what really drove Jeremy’s use of the term “assassination” was a belief that Awlaki was an anti-American propagandist and not operationally involved with AQAP in planning attacks against the U.S. If true, then Awlaki’s killing would have no justifiable basis; the 2001 AUMF would be irrelevant, the national self-defense, imminent threat, and public safety arguments wouldn’t apply.
To those of us that have followed Scahill’s writing it is plain to see that his sympathetic and defensive portrayal of Awlaki has been quite wrong. His journalism concluded that there was no evidence that Awlaki had played an operational role in U.S. attacks. Even as time passed and the Abdulmutallab attempt in 2009 poked a huge hole in that, Jeremy still wondered around pretending that it was all some giant coincidence that he and Awlaki were in an AQAP propaganda video together. Scahill was dealt another big blow when AQAP said the Kouachi brothers (Charlie Hebdo attack) coordinated with Awlaki and AQAP. Add to this Scahill’s incorrect claim that Anwar al-Awlaki was the target of the December 2009 airstrike before the Detroit airliner incident and I think you can pretty safely take Dirty Wars’ section on Awlaki with a grain of salt. It could use some serious updating.
So that, in a nutshell is why their “assassination” argument applied to Awlaki is not compelling.
The one remaining takeaway is that the Executive Branch needs much greater transparency and even better, Congress needs to establish targeted killing rules that involve all branches of the USG.
that would be all fair and good IF it were truth. . . SO explain why his 14 year old son was killed in a separate drone attack two days later . . . and what about the other Americans killed with drones??
I haven’t been talking about Awlaki’s son.
Abdulrahman was not targeted but killed during an attack aimed at a different individual.
Nasser Al-Aulaqi v. Panetta
The government has no reason to lie about who was targeted.
Another obvious distinction missed by Greenwald, Scahill, the ACLU, and others. You are well-studied in nuance, obviously.
“others would have been arguing for years that Anwar Al-Awlaki was “assassinated,” and it hasn’t been a very compelling argument.”
I hate it when there isn’t consensus.
Calling ‘target killings’ assassinations really does put a damper on conversation and prevents compelling arguments from reaching the surface.
Targeted killings are self-explanatory and promote the idea that there is insight to be had if we keep our minds open to the fact that the guy at the end of the warhead might actually deserve it.
I understand goats look like children sometimes, too. You can’t assassinate a goat.
nuf said,
Give up on satire, you’re bad at it.
This isn’t a simple option of choosing “targeted killing” or “assassination.” Both exist, but not all “targeted killings” are “assassinations.” Assassinating Joe Blow, the Politician in Yemen for his anti-American speech is not the same as launching a missile at John Doe, also in Yemen, who has been directing and coordinating attacks against the U.S.
Your impassioned arguments overlook the simple fact that people are being killed without the benefit of a trial. I realize that the US intelligence agencies have designated certain individuals as having responsibility for the planning and implementation of attacks against US citizens, but their record is unenviable when it comes to accuracy. The very notion of a war against an entity other than a national government has a shaky legal basis; we do not for instance bomb or conduct targeted killings/assassinations against people in Sicily on the basis of its being the birthplace of the Mafia, for instance. To argue over terminology is thus to paper over the fundamental illegality of what is being done.
President Obama has demonstrated on at least one occasion (Osama bin Ladin) that he prefers cold blooded murder to capturing an individual and bringing them back to stand trial. I have yet to find a flag waving patriot who appeared to comprehend the great loss in that action, in terms of losing a source of intelligence, losing a link to the Saudi sponsorship of Mr. bin Ladin’s enterprise, and losing yet another opportunity that the US is governed by the rule of law.
I haven’t overlooked due process.
The 5th Amendment remains the foundation for actions against people like Awlaki. What I argue is that people like Jeremy Scahill overlook or refuse to acknowledge this simple question: what if capture is not feasible?” If one cannot acknowledge this as even a remote possibility then our discussion will never go anywhere. The better question is “what must occur for capture to be deemed infeasible?” Here’s my brief list:
* Have they been given an opportunity to surrender, such as through a third party?
* Can the foreign government capture the individual?
* Will the foreign government capture the individual?
* if the foreign government cannot capture the individual, is the U.S. authorized to perform such an on-the-ground operation?
* What is the risk to U.S. forces conducting a capture operation?
* If capure is infeasible, would an attack violate domestic or international law?
* Did a judge approve it before the petitioners and an advocacy official?
The last bullet doesn’t occur but is something I think should happen.
Returning to my list, Awlaki was in ungoverned territory; he didn’t surrender once he learned he was on the list; the Saleh government couldn’t capture him; the Saleh government said no U.S. boots on the ground; the Saleh government covertly allowed drone strikes. That’s a shitty predicament.
Awlaki’s American citizenship is not an iron dome from where he can engage in attacks on U.S. citizens until he’s caught. This isn’t akin to a criminal operating in the U.S. or a country that is governed.
But let’s say the U.S. convinced Saleh to let them do a raid. U.S. soldiers or special forces are under gunfire and end up shooting and killing Awlaki. If your views on OBL are any indication, you still wouldn’t be satisfied. You imply that there is only one noble and lawful path: capture and trial.
As Harold Koh said (I paraphrase): such ideological arguments may suffice in faculty lounges, but in the real world where there is accountability and responsibility for protecting the country, affording Awlaki undue protection at the risk of other citizens has real consequences.
PS: I didn’t raise the 2001 AUMF because I think it’s authority outside Afghanistan is illegitimate. Congress feels otherwise.
So you are saying he “attack[ed]” America; with words.
Your astute cite of the 5th seems to have been at the expense of the first.
His crime, again … speech.
You’re a selective reader aren’t you. As I said in my post, he coordinated with Abdulmutallab (and the Kouachi brothers who later attacked Charlie Hebdo). Awlaki was much more than a That’s not “words” but deeds.
That picture of Awlaki with Abdulmutallab sure complicated Mr. Scahill’s narrative. Here’s a link with information for you to ignore!
http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB529-Anwar-al-Awlaki-File/
You’ve seen how the adults argue and you are doing your best to mimic them.
It’s frustrating when people don’t see your viewpoint. Especially when you rephrase your position and yet still no movement toward your position by others.
You are right to assume everyone is missing the point you are trying to make.
Methinks you’re projecting your own fears of being ignored onto me. I didn’t come here to talk to you but to comment on the article. Responding to you was simply a byproduct of that action. Like usual you have nothing noteworthy to add to the discussion.
“I didn’t come here to talk to you but to comment on the article. Responding to you was simply a byproduct of that action. ”
I think you mean Responding to you was simply a waste product of that action.
I say that because your specious statements deserve a response that is equally specious. Your parsing of ‘targeted killing’ versus ‘assassination’ is adolescent at best; moronic at its worst (I don’t know your age).
For the same reason Usama Bin Laden was killed he knew too much – dead men tell no tales – SO.
Awlaki was a preacher (talk is cheap) – and no proof otherwise. . SO again why was his14 year old son killed / or even the other Americans??
Bin Laden on 9-11 was in a hospital in Pakistan under the watchful eyes of I.S.S. Pakistani intelligence with full knowledge of the C.I.A. Later when interviewed in BoraBora he asked just how powerful a man we thought he was to be able to shut down S.A.C. while in a cave in BoraBora??
As a patriot,I and many like me,expressed that exact concern about not interrogating the alleged nexus of terror,and just murdering him for the political gain that Obomba actually waved many times in reelection propaganda.The mindless rethugs voted Hell Bitch.
An obvious scam,and a silencing of witnesses,who in a real court of law would correctly say that they worked for US,OBL,Saddam and Col K.We even murdered his two sons and grandson(SH).
Nate is a zionist from the state that originated targeted drone murder,Israel,so he has a vested interest in promulgating his bs.
And they hate Trump,despite the propaganda of MSM collusion,as he and America first inherently insist on truth regarding a certain day that changed everything for US.
“Give up on satire, you’re bad at it.”
Maybe it’s over your head?
I can’t tell how tall you are.
When you assert ‘Joe Blow’ in Yemen ” has been directing and coordinating attacks against the U.S.” as an example, I’m assuming you are lying down.
Get a new brian you maroon.
“You end up with a president who can carry on perpetual wars all over the world…without any accountability or democratic debate,” Obama was quoted. Surely, there was a wry curl to his lip, a knowing wink in his eye, a humor-induced dimple in his cheek when he made this statement, considering it describes his actions precisely as president. But now come the ironic warnings, because the drone-loving Nobel Peace Prize winner is concerned that future presidents–particularly, Republican presidents–might not be as conscientious and sober, as responsible, with their powers as he has been and other Democratic presidents would be, naturally, due to their inherent democratic-ness; their inherent rightness.
I’m not going to miss Obama’s hypocrisy. Not looking forward to Trump’s.
No one takes PresO seriously when he cannot remove an Appointee from using an illegal-insecure server for USNational Security Communications!
Pzeudoprezo-hopochango! ;-(
Good God, what idiots — did Obama and the Dems not think someone else — *anyone* else would get into the White House sooner or later? They expanded an already expanded precedent set by GWB and now all of a sudden they want to change the rules of the game? Did it not occur to them that someone different might be running the show eventually? Did they not think beyond the year 2016?
What myopic, stupid, foolish hubris — and so now the Obama administration is desperately trying to repair the irreparable. War criminals, all.
As very intelligent people, often are– too smart for their own good– and as pres– that includes everyone else in the country.
21ster– your point is VERY valid.
1Prezo+2CrookedClintons= 3 musketeers with lots of plans and involvements. You can see what happened in the Californis DemPrimary.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2016/12/01/trump-looming-showdown-with-double-government/NMiLbylkAlSOWXC9708IAJ/story.html
The one essential condition for double government to function effectively is that the elected and concealed institutions present a united front. Harmony between the two institutions, at least in the eyes of the public, is vital. Trump, unlike his predecessors, has openly broken with the security directorate. Moreover, most of the program he’s espoused entails ramping up rather than scaling back security, which the bureaucracy has historically embraced.
All modern presidents have had an abiding incentive to remain in sync with the security managers, as have Congress and the courts, for a simple reason. No president, senator, or judge has wanted to confront the “if only” argument: “If only you had heeded the advice of the security experts, this devastating attack would not have occurred.” Better safe than sorry; safe means deferring to the security experts.
In addition to providing political cover, the appearance of public rapport invests double government with stability. Open feuding would unveil the power of the back-stage directorate, discrediting both institutions and causing the whole structure to “fall to earth.” That was the prediction of Walter Bagehot, the 19th-century English constitutional theorist who originated the concept of double government.
Trump, however, is unenthralled by experts — he wouldn’t be moving into the White House otherwise — so he has been indifferent to the effects of an open rupture with the security directorate. Either he doesn’t appreciate the need for legitimizing public harmony, or he’s decided to take on the whole bifurcated system and replace it with the single, unitary executive that the Constitution originally envisioned.
Trump’s response to former NSA and CIA director Michael Hayden may have been predictive. Hayden said that, if given an order to kill families of suspected terrorists, “the American armed forces would refuse to act.” “They won’t refuse,” Trump replied. “They’re not going to refuse me. Believe me — if I say do it, they’re gonna do it.”
Hayden later dug in his heels. If Trump wants to resume waterboarding, Trump can “get his own damn bucket,” Hayden said. He called Trump a “useful fool” of the Russian government, “manipulated by Moscow, secretly held in contempt.” But the breach between Trump and Hayden is the least of it. A gaping public rift has now developed between Trump and the national security establishment. An open letter from 122 Republican national security experts called Trump “fundamentally dishonest” and “utterly unfitted to the office.” Numerous current and former security officials have vowed they will never work for Trump or will openly defy presidential orders.
Trump, true to form, has counterattacked, disparaging the experts’ expertise. When the intelligence community concluded that Russia had hacked the Democratic National Committee and then disseminated purloined e-mails, Trump dismissed their assessment as unreliable. “Our country has no idea,” he said. “I don’t think anybody knows it was Russia that broke into the DNC.”
Hayden if full of BS. I recently watched a documentary and Leon Panetta told a story about a known terrorist who was in a compound with 30 or so family members. They knew the guy was leaving in the morning and they might not get another chance to get him. His words “I made the call” as we watched the entire compound get leveled by a missile.
Our US military is given orders to kill families all the time and they do it.
Spymasters: CIA in the Crosshairs
Thats the one.
The opening to the Globe piece says it all.
Obama was being candid while simultaneously being a participant in the double government system.
Who thinks GW was making any decisions as president? Bush has said he was surprised at how little power the president has.
Trump is going to expose the double government, one way or another.
Hayden is a pos loser scum,so f*ck him,and Trump,as this article points out,can’t outdo any that came before him,and as of yet,has done nothing,but so many wish to smear him with his predecessors crimes,a real good exercise in hypocrisy.
Good Read!
It’s unsettling at best to think that we are becoming more like Zimbabwe with a rock solid “Constitution” but an appalling human rights record in reality.
If our “Public Stance” gets any further away from how our government operates in reality then eventually you will get to the point that people automatically distrust everything the government says. (We may have already hit that point long ago)
I think that Trump, whatever you believe about him, is being handed a set of presidential powers that were never intended for any president to ever have at their disposal.
That’s because there isn’t one.
*I would also argue there never was, and never will be, ‘continued public support for torture’. Not really.
That’s because there isn’t one.
But there is, bah.
The explanation is that the Obama administration failed to prosecute officials in the Bush administration because such prosecutions would open up himself, his administration and other members of the executive to prosecutions by opposing administrations going forward. Plain and simple, it is the most base of gentleman’s agreements.
As Glenn explained in With Liberty and Justice For Some, this kind of coverage of prior executive misconduct became explicit, one might even say codified, when Ford pardoned Nixon. We saw it again when Bush issued clemency to Scooter Libby – as opposed to the full-out pardon Cheney, whose ass is also very much on the line in such matters – pushed for.
Haven’t they repeatedly force fed prisoners at Guantanamo,and via rectal feeding?Under Obomba?
That’s torture.
Glad to see The Intercept shine a light on the corrupt 0bama administration. Well done.
It was not just Obama, he had full cooperation from the rest of the Democratic party.
When it was Bush the Democrats were all over Presidential abuse of powers but as soon as Obama got elected (basically as the anti-Bush) they went completely silent.
Double down on drone strikes, troop deployments, destabilizing countries, etc etc. Not a problem when it is your guy in office.
Now that it is going to be a Republican all of a sudden there is a problem. The Democrats lost any moral right to bitch about anything Trump is going to do. They very much laid the groundwork for this.
Bed, made, lie…..
Not that there is no blame on the Republican side but we know many of them are fascist war mongers. Most of them are pretty upfront about it, their hypocrisy lies in different areas (small Govt anyone).
The Obama and the Democrats sold themselves as the anti-war, transparent Govt party back in 2008 and if anything Obama was actually worse than Bush.
Exactly. Cindy Sheehan didn’t care about the political affiliation of who was in the White House. So, three days in, Obama began drone strikes and she voiced her opposition — and Dems promptly told her to shut up and ditched her.
Yes, 21ster– 2016 election, not one person could open their mouths to say words .”hope” or “change”. What PresO and CrookedClintons havedoneis aNational Disgrace!
The 61 Page Report
This appears to be nothing more than a half-measure requesting restraint by the next administration by Obama.
Well, good luck with that. Obama’s time to have done something has come and gone.
The very real thing I fear for myself and my wife as well as others Amercans is that the Trump administration, in haste and stupidity which has already been proven (Taiwan phone call), will begin The Roundup of Americans on the various Lists that exist without any due process.
If this happens, it will be Obama’s legacy for legitimizing the unaccountable powers of the Executive.
So you think China has the right to decide US policy?
And that the president of Taiwan called him?
In Trumps speech in Ohio(great speech,which the traitor MSM will ignore)yesterday,he said;Trillions wasted in ME ,for what?
And Obomba was an unqualified stooge who the MSM portrayed as noble,and covered up every one of his stupid wars and assassinations,and torture in Guantanamo.Now they want restraint?Ha.
Goodbye to bad rubbish.
The age of Trump is upon US.Hallelujah!
Great report. I had in mind a kind of terminator scene, decades from now the people will look back, point to the authorization of drone strikes on its own citizens.
Well, there’s two conflicting ways to look at prez powers:
it’s legally unsettling; but
it’s not morally unsettling (McCarthy view of association?).
US leaders from the outset have been law breakers; they have outlaw in their lineage. Law and order president my ass.
So how does a nation live by the Rule of Law when its leaders pick when they are subject to the Rule?
The Founders may have been smart characters, they really divided power among 4 groups: Executive, Judicial, Legislative, Armed Militia.