Some may object to using the word “murder” in describing the extra-judicial drone assassination of sixteen-year-old U.S. citizen, who has never been convicted of a crime, while dining at a restaurant in a non-combat zone of another country.
Such an objection would be unfounded and will be answered, but first, the details of POTUS’ crime:
According to a report yesterday on NBC News, on “Oct. 14, 2011, … 16-year-old Abdulrahman was killed by U.S. forces.
“Family of the Denver-born teenager say he had no ties to terrorist organizations and was unjustly targeted because of his father.”
Dr. Ron Paul objected to the assassination of Abdulrahman’s father, Anwar al-Awlaki, who was similarly killed in a drone strike:
During his presidential campaign, Republican Rep. Ron Paul criticized the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki, saying: “Al-Awlaki was born here, he is an American citizen. He was never tried or charged for any crimes. No one knows if he killed anybody. … But if the American people accept this blindly and casually that we now have an accepted practice of the president assassinating people who he thinks are bad guys, I think it’s sad.” [Read more…]
In his understated way, the good doc has made an important point.
Now, to reply to the objection that “murder” is not the right word to use, let us recall that this is the president who personally approves each drone assassination. In the words of a laudatory NY Times article:
Mr. Obama is the liberal law professor who campaigned against the Iraq war and torture, and then insisted on approving every new name on an expanding “kill list,” poring over terrorist suspects’ biographies on what one official calls the macabre “baseball cards” of an unconventional war. When a rare opportunity for a drone strike at a top terrorist arises — but his family is with him — it is the president who has reserved to himself the final moral calculation.
“He is determined that he will make these decisions about how far and wide these operations will go,” said Thomas E. Donilon, his national security adviser. “His view is that he’s responsible for the position of the United States in the world.” He added, “He’s determined to keep the tether pretty short.”
Who cares about the first lady’s physique? (Have we really become that pathetic?) It’s her husband that’s the murderer.
