American traitors like al-Awlaki should be killed asap by any means necessary
On Oct 11, 4:52 am, excalliber stevens <[email protected]> wrote: > Secret panel can put Americans on "kill list' > By Mark Hosenball > WASHINGTON | Wed Oct 5, 2011 7:59pm EDT > (Reuters) - American militants like Anwar al-Awlaki are placed on a > kill or capture list by a secretive panel of senior government > officials, which then informs the president of its decisions, > according to officials. > There is no public record of the operations or decisions of the panel, > which is a subset of the White House's National Security Council, > several current and former officials said. Neither is there any law > establishing its existence or setting out the rules by which it is > supposed to operate. > The panel was behind the decision to add Awlaki, a U.S.-born militant > preacher with alleged al Qaeda connections, to the target list. He was > killed by a CIA drone strike in Yemen late last month. > The role of the president in ordering or ratifying a decision to > target a citizen is fuzzy. White House spokesman Tommy Vietor declined > to discuss anything about the process. > Current and former officials said that to the best of their knowledge, > Awlaki, who the White House said was a key figure in al Qaeda in the > Arabian Peninsula, al Qaeda's Yemen-based affiliate, had been the only > American put on a government list targeting people for capture or > death due to their alleged involvement with militants. > The White House is portraying the killing of Awlaki as a demonstration > of President Barack Obama's toughness toward militants who threaten > the United States. But the process that led to Awlaki's killing has > drawn fierce criticism from both the political left and right. > In an ironic turn, Obama, who ran for president denouncing predecessor > George W. Bush's expansive use of executive power in his "war on > terrorism," is being attacked in some quarters for using similar > tactics. They include secret legal justifications and undisclosed > intelligence assessments. > Liberals criticized the drone attack on an American citizen as extra- > judicial murder. > Conservatives criticized Obama for refusing to release a Justice > Department legal opinion that reportedly justified killing Awlaki. > They accuse Obama of hypocrisy, noting his administration insisted on > publishing Bush-era administration legal memos justifying the use of > interrogation techniques many equate with torture, but refused to make > public its rationale for killing a citizen without due process. > Some details about how the administration went about targeting Awlaki > emerged on Tuesday when the top Democrat on the House Intelligence > Committee, Representative Dutch Ruppersberger, was asked by reporters > about the killing. > The process involves "going through the National Security Council, > then it eventually goes to the president, but the National Security > Council does the investigation, they have lawyers, they review, they > look at the situation, you have input from the military, and also, we > make sure that we follow international law," Ruppersberger said. > LAWYERS CONSULTED > Other officials said the role of the president in the process was > murkier than what Ruppersberger described. > They said targeting recommendations are drawn up by a committee of mid- > level National Security Council and agency officials. Their > recommendations are then sent to the panel of NSC "principals," > meaning Cabinet secretaries and intelligence unit chiefs, for > approval. The panel of principals could have different memberships > when considering different operational issues, they said. > The officials insisted on anonymity to discuss sensitive information. > They confirmed that lawyers, including those in the Justice > Department, were consulted before Awlaki's name was added to the > target list. > Two principal legal theories were advanced, an official said: first, > that the actions were permitted by Congress when it authorized the use > of military forces against militants in the wake of the attacks of > September 11, 2001; and they are permitted under international law if > a country is defending itself. > Several officials said that when Awlaki became the first American put > on the target list, Obama was not required personally to approve the > targeting of a person. But one official said Obama would be notified > of the principals' decision. If he objected, the decision would be > nullified, the official said. > A former official said one of the reasons for making senior officials > principally responsible for nominating Americans for the target list > was to "protect" the president. > Officials confirmed that a second American, Samir Khan, was killed in > the drone attack that killed Awlaki. Khan had served as editor of > Inspire, a glossy English-language magazine used by AQAP as a > propaganda and recruitment vehicle. > But rather than being specifically targeted by drone operators, Khan > was in the wrong place at the wrong time, officials said. > Ruppersberger appeared to confirm that, saying Khan's death was > "collateral," meaning he was not an intentional target of the drone > strike. > When the name of a foreign, rather than American, militant is added to > targeting lists, the decision is made within the intelligence > community and normally does not require approval by high-level NSC > officials. > 'FROM INSPIRATIONAL TO OPERATIONAL' > Officials said Awlaki, whose fierce sermons were widely circulated on > English-language militant websites, was targeted because Washington > accumulated information his role in AQAP had gone "from inspirational > to operational." That meant that instead of just propagandizing in > favor of al Qaeda objectives, Awlaki allegedly began to participate > directly in plots against American targets. > "Let me underscore, Awlaki is no mere messenger but someone integrally > involved in lethal terrorist activities," Daniel Benjamin, top > counterterrorism official at the State Department, warned last spring. > The Obama administration has not made public an accounting of the > classified evidence that Awlaki was operationally involved in planning > terrorist attacks. > But officials acknowledged that some of the intelligence purporting to > show Awlaki's hands-on role in plotting attacks was patchy. > For instance, one plot in which authorities have said Awlaki was > involved Nigerian-born Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, accused of trying to > blow up a Detroit-bound U.S. airliner on Christmas Day 2009 with a > bomb hidden in his underpants. > There is no doubt Abdulmutallab was an admirer or follower of Awlaki, > since he admitted that to U.S. investigators. When he appeared in a > Detroit courtroom earlier this week for the start of his trial on bomb- > plot charges, he proclaimed, "Anwar is alive." > But at the time the White House was considering putting Awlaki on the > U.S. target list, intelligence connecting Awlaki specifically to > Abdulmutallab and his alleged bomb plot was partial. Officials said at > the time the United States had voice intercepts involving a phone > known to have been used by Awlaki and someone who they believed, but > were not positive, was Abdulmutallab. > Awlaki was also implicated in a case in which a British Airways > employee was imprisoned for plotting to blow up a U.S.-bound plane. E- > mails retrieved by authorities from the employee's computer showed > what an investigator described as " operational contact" between > Britain and Yemen. > Authorities believe the contacts were mainly between the U.K.-based > suspect and his brother. But there was a strong suspicion Awlaki was > at the brother's side when the messages were dispatched. British media > reported that in one message, the person on the Yemeni end supposedly > said, "Our highest priority is the US ... With the people you have, is > it possible to get a package or a person with a package on board a > flight heading to the US?" > U.S. officials contrast intelligence suggesting Awlaki's involvement > in specific plots with the activities of Adam Gadahn, an American > citizen who became a principal English-language propagandist for the > core al Qaeda network formerly led by Osama bin Laden. > While Gadahn appeared in angry videos calling for attacks on the > United States, officials said he had not been specifically targeted > for capture or killing by U.S. forces because he was regarded as a > loudmouth not directly involved in plotting attacks. > > http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/05/us-cia-killlist-idUSTRE7947... > > www.realindianews.blogspot.com -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. 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