ACLU: Obama Admin.'s Claim It Has Authority To Kill American Citizens Has No Geographic Limit

[rachel1]

To watch this entire interview with Jameel Jaffer on Democracy Now!, visit http://owl.li/hu3Bf.

The ACLU's Jameel Jaffer examines the Obama administration's internal legal justification for assassinating U.S. citizens without charge overseas, even if there is no intelligence indicating they are engaged in an active plot to attack the United States.

TRANSCRIPT:
Jameel Jaffer says: "If you look at the memo, the briefing paper that was released yesterday, there's no geographic line. And you can remember how most of the country reacted when President Bush declared the authority to hold American citizens detained in the United States: Most of the country said, 'You can't be serious. You're going to treat the United States as part of the battlefield. You're going to detain American citizens inside the United States as enemy combatants.' And now, the Obama administration—you know, if you accept the memo on its face, you accept the briefing paper on its face, the Obama administration is making, in some ways, a greater claim of authority. They're arguing that the authority to kill American citizens has no geographic limit."

[ReRe]

1. K&R

Again, thanks for posting this clip. One thing you might add is the date of the program (in future uploads.) Everyone should click on the link and listen to the whole interview! I've heard two different stories on this...that strikes will be made inside US borders and that they won't be used inside our borders. And here Mr. Jaffer from the ACLU indicates that the answer to that question is unclear, without being able to read the entire document (which I assume Brennan is not releasing to the public, only about 12 or 16 pages of it.)