AP Sources: Justice Dept. to reveal Drone Memo

Some senators, including those in Obama's own party, have called for the public release of the memo before the final confirmation vote. The White House agreed under the pressure to show senators unredacted copies of all written legal advice written by Barron regarding the potential use of lethal force against U.S. citizens in counterterrorism operations.

Until now, the administration has fought in court to keep the writings from public view

WASHINGTON (AP) — On the eve of a critical Senate vote and under court order, the Obama administration signaled it will publicly reveal a secret memo describing its legal justification for using drones to kill U.S. citizens suspected of terrorism overseas.

Two administration officials told The Associated Press that the Justice Department has decided not to appeal a Court of Appeals ruling requiring disclosure of a redacted version of the memo under the Freedom of Information Act. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.

The decision to release the documents comes as the Senate is to vote Wednesday on advancing President Barack Obama's nomination of the memo's author, Harvard professor and former Justice Department official David Barron, to sit on the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., had vowed to fight Barron's confirmation, and some Democratic senators were calling for the memo's public release before a final vote.

Source

Anwar al-Awlaki, an al-Qaida leader born in the United States, was killed after being targeted by a drone strike in Yemen in September 2011
Some legal scholars and human rights activists complained that it was illegal for the U.S. to kill American citizens away from the battlefield without a trial

The release could take some time, since the redactions are subject to court approval. And the administration also is insisting that a classified ruling on the case also be redacted to protect information classified for national security, but not the legal reasoning, one of the officials said

I can't wait to see this! To see what Obama and his stooge justice department is going to cook up. on the face of it it doesnt make sense and hold water. were going to release a SECRET memo that reveals legal justification. Anyone who feels justified in there actions doesnt have to keep it a secret!

a reply to: snarky412

I so want to see this memo. I would love to see the explanation on how it was OK to violate not only the Constitution, but international treaty, and, all of our own laws surrounding murder. All ignored, and based on what again? Intel? Whose? The same people who told us of all the WMD's in Iraq?

No room at all for fraud or embellishments in those allegations? Yeah, right. Prove it.

Can we see the success vs intel failure statistics for all the other drone victims?

We have due process for a reason. Thus, it was a violation of established, written in stone, Human Rights. Due Process, is a fundamental right. Count how many rights are violated each drone strike here:

www.un.org...

Militarism. It should be considered a mental sickness.

No amount of redacted paperwork makes it OK to kill a 15 year old kid.

The kid did not pick his Dad. He was an American Citizen. A minor child.

They were in Yemen. You take whatever force you need. Arrest that fool.

Bring him back to America and give him a fair trial. If he is found guilty.

Execute him here...Hell, send him to Texas, they will do it just for fun.

a reply to: Not Authorized

I so want to see this memo. I would love to see the explanation on how it was OK to violate not only the Constitution, but international treaty, and, all of our own laws surrounding murder. All ignored, and based on what again? Intel? Whose? The same people who told us of all the WMD's in Iraq?

I think we all do

It makes one wonder why they were anxious to get the guy out of the picture instead of arresting him & giving him a trial
Kinda sounds like he might have known something that our government didn't want the public to know if the case went to trial
Or maybe due to security...who knows

Just a thought, pure speculation....

Oh, that memo .....yeah I first heard about that on the news.

a reply to: Not Authorized

I agree a million percent!

I wonder how many Americans will shoot these drones down on sight?