It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
A confidential Justice Department memo concludes that the U.S. government can order the killing of American citizens if they are believed to be “senior operational leaders” of al-Qaida or “an associated force” -- even if there is no intelligence indicating they are engaged in an active plot to attack the U.S.
I mean who else is supporting Al Qaeda in Libya and Syria?
Originally posted by Carreau
reply to post by Wrabbit2000
By the time it gets so bad you finally decide to leave, you won't be allowed to.
Originally posted by Wrabbit2000
"associated force" eh? What the hell constitutes a leader?! The majority of Al Qaeda street fighters have a grade school education at best. That's not meant to insult but a statement of fact. Al Qaeda recruits to the lowest on most of their people so independent thought isn't a concern they have to deal with from afar, during an operation. I imagine they find it works for them since they seem to have more success hitting our people overseas than we have in hitting theirs most of the time.
Ummm.... Anyway...So how far does one need to go? Get suckered into a series of chats? Read Inspire a few times? Write ..ahem... "disloyal" messages on a wild internet website? Since WHEN did assassination of citizens inside the nation even get TALKED about?!
This stuff ..if accurate..is so far past reasonable control now it's just unbelievable. I swear I may some day do what I never could have imagined...I may really look at other nations to live. It's not there yet. Not by a good distance .....but this isn't getting better around here either.
In conclusion, it would be lawful for the United States to conduct a lethal operation outside the United States against a U.S. citizen who is a senior, operational leader of al-Qa'ida without violating the Constitution or the federal statutes discussed in this white paper under the following conditions: (1) An informed, high-level official of the U.S. government has determined that the targeted individual poses an imminent threat of violent attack against the United States; (2) capture is infeasible, and the United States continues to monitor whether capture becomes feasible; (3) the operation is conducted in a manner consistent with the four fundamental principles of the laws of war governing the use of force.
U.S. government can order the killing of American citizens if they are believed to be “senior operational leaders” of al-Qaida or “an associated force”