Panetta: Decision to Kill Americans Suspected of Terrorism Is Obama's

[EFerrari]

Panetta: Decision to Kill Americans Suspected of Terrorism Is Obama's

—By Adam Serwer
| Mon Jan. 30, 2012 12:13 PM PST

In an interview with CBS 60 Minutes' Scott Pelley, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta revealed more about the secret process the Obama administration uses to kill American citizens suspected of terrorism without trial. According to Panetta, the president himself approves the decision based on recommendations from top national security officials.

"[The] President of the United States obviously reviews these cases, reviews the legal justification, and in the end says, go or no go," Panetta said.

"So it's the requirement of the administration under the current legal understanding that the president has to make that declaration, not you?" Pelley asked. Panetta replied, "That is correct."

The process by which national security officials determine whether or not American citizens suspected of terrorism can be killed remains opaque. The administration has leaked information about certain targets, but it has never released the legal justification for doing so, nor has it explained the system by which members of the National Security Council reportedly decide to put an American citizen on a so-called "kill list." In October, Reuters' Mark Hosenball wrote that the president doesn't necessarily explicitly approve strikes—instead, the attacks go forward unless the president objects.


http://motherjones.com/mojo/2012/01/panetta-obama-signs-killings-americans-suspected-terrorism

[provis99]

1. legal justification, that's rich.

The bottom line is that the President is ordering Americans to be murdered in other countries.

[Vattel]

2. I hope the court steps in and stops this.

[EFerrari]

3. The Supreme Court is firmly in the hands of right wing extremists.

It doesn't look good for the rebel alliance.

[Vattel]

6. Well, at least Scalia is fairly pro-civil liberties and anti-executive power.

Thomas and Roberts are hopeless, and I don't have much hope for Alito. But the others are better.

[sad sally]

4. And there are never any innocent people killed by US President-approved drone strikes

The Obama administration’s claim boils down to “if they die from our drones, they were al Qaeda.” There is no gray area, no question of whether they were insurgents, suppliers of insurgents, the son of an insurgent, at the same party as an insurgent, an actual al Qaeda operative, or an al-Qaeda sympathizer, plotting to attack the homeland, or just documenting the aftermath of drone strikes, etc. If we kill them, clearly they were bin Laden reincarnated. The catchall claim, which so far no public official has been properly scrutinized for, is analogous to Richard Nixon’s claim that “if the president does, that means it is not illegal.”

John Glaser, January 31, 2012

[EFerrari]

5. Nine in Yemen yesterday. nt