In a First, U.S. Admits Drones Have Killed 4 Americans Overseas.

[JaneyVee]

WASHINGTON — One day before President Obama is due to deliver a major speech on national security, his administration on Wednesday formally acknowledged that the United States had killed four American citizens in drone strikes in Yemen and Pakistan.

In a letter to Congressional leaders obtained by The New York Times, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. disclosed that the administration had deliberately killed Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical Muslim cleric who was killed in a drone strike in September 2011 in Yemen.

The American responsibility for Mr. Awlaki’s death has been widely reported, but the administration had until now refused to confirm or deny it.

The letter also said that the United States had killed three other Americans: Samir Khan, who was killed in the same strike; Mr. Awlaki’s son Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, who was also killed in Yemen; and Jude Mohammed, who was killed in a strike in Pakistan.

“These individuals were not specifically targeted by the United States,” Mr. Holder wrote.

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/23/us/us-acknowledges-killing-4-americans-in-drone-strikes.html?smid=tw-bna&_r=0

[Enrique]

1. maybe we're going to see a change in policy tomorrow

hopefully it will not be just a defense of the current policy.

[MineralMan]

2. I wouldn't count on it, frankly.

[Enrique]

3. ok

i'll go ahead and exhale then.

[Pragdem]

4. I hate that people like this get labeled Americans.

On paper only. On paper only.

[Dreamer Tatum]

7. You're an American "on paper only" too.

What makes you so special? You can have your ass blown apart just like them.

[sagat]

8. +1.

[Luminous Animal]

9. Born in the U.S. Raised in the U.S. Educated in the U.S.... How was he not an American?

[ProSense]

5. Tomorrow's speech should be interesting. n/t

[woo me with science]

6. ...

[Luminous Animal]

10. Jeremy Scahill responds...

Jeremy Scahill, whose upcoming groundbreaking film, Dirty Wars, deals extensively with US drone killings in Yemen, reacts to the admission by the US government today that it drone-killed 4 Americans in Yemen, including the 16-year-old American Abdulrahman Awlaki:

* * * * *

"Attorney General Eric Holder's letter raises more questions than it answers. While the Obama administration now admits it intentionally killed Anwar Awlaki despite never having charged him with a crime, it continues to insist that the evidence against him is too sensitive to be made public. The assassination of Anwar Awlaki was a watershed moment and crossed a dangerous line. The public has a right to know the full, legal basis for killing an American citizen without providing him any access to due process. How would Awlaki have surrendered when he was not even charged with a crime? How do you surrender to a drone?

"In his letter, Holder says that the United States did 'not specifically target' 16-year-old US citizen Abdulrahman Awlaki. What does that phrase mean? Why then was he killed? The White House should explain his killing to the American people and to the boy's family. Despite its claims to be the most transparent administration in history, the Obama White House continues to keep secret from the American people vital information about its claimed lethal authorities. How does an American get on the kill list? How does one get off the kill list, especially when there are no criminal charges filed against you?

"Perhaps most disturbing about the Attorney General's letter is that it leaves totally unexplained why the United States has killed so many innocent non-American citizens in its strikes in Pakistan and Yemen. Yet, from my investigation on the ground in a variety of countries, I've become convinced that we are making more new enemies than we are killing terrorists. We must confront the realities of the full impact of our 'targeted' killing program, particularly when innocent civilians are killed, so that we can have a real debate about whether our counterterrorism strategies are enhancing or degrading our national security."

[woo me with science]

11. kick

[Solly Mack]

12. K/R

[woo me with science]

13. kick

[LostOne4Ever]

14. I see these strikes

As a dangerous encroachment by the federal government against our civil liberties. It might not be bad now but what happens if a Republican becomes President sometime in the near Future.

Its pretty much a trial, sentence and execution without even attempting to put them before a jury. Imagine if someone Like Lindsey Graham became president. He already wanted to declare the younger Boston Bomber an enemy combatant and strip him of his right, imagine if he were to become president. "Oh you disagree with me? Declare him an enemy combatant and bomb his house!"

The Obama Admin should really reconsider its position on this one.

[NCTraveler]

15. Quote from the HuffPo yesterday.

"To this end, the president has directed me to disclose certain information that until now has been properly classified."

Does he feel that it is no longer properly classified? Are there more Americans that have been killed by drones, classified differently.

I find this quote by Holder to be strange. This is very limited information being released, and is being make to look like it is big. Not enough to make any judgments on the program. I personally feel that rwingers will read the names and jump for joy at their deaths. The names all have something in common. In no way does this appear to release the names of all Americans killed in drone strikes.

To add: I posted this in another thread thinking that I was posting it here. I went to the other thread for quick reference to the HuffPo article and accidentally posted to said thread. No intentions of spamming. Thanks.

[treestar]

16. I'll never get this

Are they more valuable than non-Americans.

Of all the people in Yemen planning terror attacks, why are people who happen to have American ties more worthy of life?

It's like someone is trying to gin up outrage based on national bigotry.

If the drone strikes are wrong, they are just as wrong when killing Yemenis or other non-Americans.