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The Obama administration’s secret legal memorandum that opened the door to the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki, the American-born radical Muslim cleric hiding in Yemen, found that it would be lawful only if it were not feasible to take him alive, according to people who have read the document.
The secret document provided the justification for acting despite an executive order banning assassinations, a federal law against murder, protections in the Bill of Rights and various strictures of the international laws of war, according to people familiar with the analysis.
The memo, however, was narrowly drawn to the specifics of Mr. Awlaki’s case and did not establish a broad new legal doctrine to permit the targeted killing of any Americans believed to pose a terrorist threat.
The latest information on the secret memo that justified the termination of al Qaeda terror leader Anwar al-Awlaki indicates that the basis for the decision was that there was no other way to eliminate him as a threat. Because capturing him was not feasible, he had to be killed.
Pursuant to the AUMF passed in the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the NDAA text affirms the President's authority to detain, via the Armed Forces, any person "who was part of or substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces," under the law of war, "without trial, until the end of hostilities."
Originally posted by ThinkinJo
hmmm i agree with Ron Paul on most of the things he says, but then again, you guys dont think he's just another one of them, as in telling us what the "truthers" wanna hear to get us on the bandwagon then bam switches up on us jus like the rest of em, then there we go fooled like every1 else