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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMemo justifying drone killing of American Al Qaeda leader is released
Memo justifying drone killing of American Al Qaeda leader is releasedNeither the U.S. Constitution nor laws governing prosecution of people who commit murder abroad prohibited killing American citizen Anwar Awlaki in Yemen, according to a previously secret Justice Department memo released by a federal court Monday.
Although the existence of the memo, written in 2010 to justify Awlakis 2011 death by U.S. drone strike, has long been known, its precise legal reasoning had been shrouded in secrecy. The ACLU and the New York Times sued for its release.
The redacted memo by former Obama Justice Department official David Barron is highly unusual in that it advocated allowing the killing of a U.S. citizen without due process of law.
Barron, recently confirmed by the Senate as a federal appeals court judge in Boston, concluded that Awlaki could be killed as a leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula actively plotting attacks against the U.S. and its allies. But the memo said there was no precedent for it, nor was there explicit authorization in federal statutes or the Constitution.
Although the existence of the memo, written in 2010 to justify Awlakis 2011 death by U.S. drone strike, has long been known, its precise legal reasoning had been shrouded in secrecy. The ACLU and the New York Times sued for its release.
The redacted memo by former Obama Justice Department official David Barron is highly unusual in that it advocated allowing the killing of a U.S. citizen without due process of law.
Barron, recently confirmed by the Senate as a federal appeals court judge in Boston, concluded that Awlaki could be killed as a leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula actively plotting attacks against the U.S. and its allies. But the memo said there was no precedent for it, nor was there explicit authorization in federal statutes or the Constitution.
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Memo justifying drone killing of American Al Qaeda leader is released (Original Post)
neverforget
Jun 2014
OP
So basically they said why we were allowed to kill him but not why he deserved to be killed.
Gravitycollapse
Jun 2014
#3
snot
(10,475 posts)1. K&R'd.
JayhawkSD
(3,163 posts)2. Released?
The guy was killed because he was "actually planning attacks, but the first 10 pages, where the evidence for that assertion was apparently discussed, was redacted in the interest of national security."
Some release.
Gravitycollapse
(8,155 posts)3. So basically they said why we were allowed to kill him but not why he deserved to be killed.
neverforget
(9,433 posts)4. pretty much.
struggle4progress
(117,949 posts)6. Perhaps you should read the memo before characterizing it
Gravitycollapse
(8,155 posts)7. You mean the memo with the entire first section missing?
For "national security" interests.
struggle4progress
(117,949 posts)5. Link to PDF: I think the document in question begins on page 67