A Nobel laureate orders assassination of his own citizen
No prizes for guessing which Nobel Peace Prize-飞颈苍苍别谤鈥�
Barack Obama (the 鈥楥hange We Can Believe In鈥� President) looks more like his disastrous predecessor every passing day. I am not talking about the bailouts to politically-connected cronies, 鈥榮timulus鈥� spending that doesn鈥檛 stimulate anything, or the futile throwing of money at an inefficient healthcare system. Rather, I am referring to something that Democrats and 鈥榩roper liberals鈥� are supposed to agree on 鈥� the rule of law and the rejection of unconstitutional anti-terrorism policies. Specifically, I am talking about the use of targeted assassination as a policy priority.
The increase in targeted assassination of terrorist suspects is a direct effect of the policies and preferences of the current President. The frequency of such attacks has increased substantially in the last few years, as even the pro-Obama Washington Post . However, things have now reached a new low point 鈥� the Times that American citizens are now being placed in the Predator drone鈥檚 crosshairs.
Even George W Bush, in spite of all the disgraceful human rights abuses he presided over, did not target American citizens for assassination.
The argument is often rightly made that torture is severely limited in its effectiveness in gathering useful information, but it is a truism to say the same can be said of assassination. When contrasted with the capture of these terrorists, assassination offers few meaningful benefits. Any opportunity to learn something new about our enemies鈥� plans is lost in the bomb crater. Nat Hentoff of the Cato Institute this point concerning the assassination of Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan in Somalia in February. Hentoff quoted a senior military officer as saying- 鈥淲e wanted to take a prisoner. [The assassination] was not a decision that we made鈥� These shoot-to-kill orders are coming from the very top, and they are in direct conflict with our interests in gathering information by capturing and interrogating high value targets.
Now that these tactics can be applied to American citizens, without any need for judicial approval, even die-hard Obama supporters should be wondering what good was served by believing in his plans for 鈥榗hange鈥�.
Oh well, at least by blowing these people to smithereens on the other side of the planet, President Obama is spared those annoying calls from human rights activists nearer to home. There鈥檚 no longer any need to worry about fair trials and due process (or lack thereof), or accusations of torture (or is that 鈥榚nhanced interrogation techniques鈥�). As long as he keeps bombing people without trial, there isn鈥檛 really any need to expedite the closing of Guantanamo Bay either.
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