Obama Team To Break Silence On al-Awlaki Killing -- Daily Beast/Newsweek
Inside the White House debate over how to talk about al Qaeda’s Anwar al-Awlaki.
After months of internal debate, the Obama administration is planning to reveal publicly the legal reasoning behind its decision to kill the American-born leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Anwar al-Awlaki.
Awlaki, whom American officials had identified as the chief of external operations for the al Qaeda affiliate, was killed in a CIA drone strike last September in Northern Yemen. The targeted killing was one of the most controversial actions in Barack Obama’s war on terror. Civil libertarians and human-rights activists have argued that it amounted to a summary execution on the basis of secret evidence and without due process. Defenders of the administration have maintained that the killing was a necessary and lawful act of war to prevent an imminent threat to the safety of the American people.
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Update: Obama administration readies public defense of al-Alwaki assassination -- America Thinker
My Comment: The US government sanctioned assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki .... a US citizen .... is a killing that is unprecedented in modern U.S. history. Is the Obama administration concerned about the legacy that such a killing will entail .... you betcha ... especially among their more liberal base. How can one condemn torture under President Bush, when President Obama's administration sanctions killings. Hence the scrambling to justify their reasons.