Barack Obama 'The 'Decider': Message From A Concerned American Who Believes That American Citizenship Is A Shield From A Tyrannical Government
Fri May 24, 2013 3:39 AM
The problem with making an exception to KILL ANY AMERICAN with EXTRA JUDICIAL ASSASSINATIONS is that what is done to 5 people today, may turn into 100 people tomorrow, 1000 in few years and .... so on.
The President's point that a person should not be able to "hide behind their CITIZENSHIP" to me is at best, problematic. At worst it makes one wonder if he slept through Civics 101, regarding what it means to be an American?
Maybe in the future they can use his transcript to revise the section on the definition of what it means to be HUMANE... "Why Drone Strikes Are HUMANE, JUST,AND MORAL IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM".
The reason is that one's citizenship is in fact A SHIELD AGAINST A TYRANNICAL GOVERNMENT. That's the point of citizenship. This includes people who are suspected and accused of even the most heinous of crimes.
When we (the Congress and by extension the American people) allowed George W. Bush to argue that it was OK to kill TERRORISTS anywhere we find them... a majority of the American people agreed.
As was noted in the Presidents transcript, almost a decade later this president has taken the next step and stated flatly and on no uncertain terms, (in quite eloquent words) that it is ALRIGHT, and even MORALLY CORRECT AND JUST, to target and kill with drone strikes American citizens who are suspected of terrorism. (as you would a "sniper" for example, the President noted).
Imagine if he uses the same logic at home to say for example: it is ok to incarcerate Americans suspected of terrorism or other civil disruption, even if we have no evidence for a court, can produce no evidence in a court, AND WILL NOT produce any evidence invoking National Security, but because they are a suspected and potential threat we will either arrest, incarcerate or kill them.... WITHOUT DUE PROCESS, as WE judge appropriate.
Indeed the next step may be to kill terrorists, who are Americans, IN America, with targeted drone strikes. I did note that he stated this is illegal, but who's to say where this will end?
He seems to not be at all concerned about the precedent his is setting and even pointed out it was an extension of the Bush policies (whose actions he formally criticized when running for office) and unequivocally argued that his actions, while not an easy solution, are the best solution, given the circumstance.
Many disastrous causes were in their outset, but their proponents: JUST and MORAL, but in fact are known to us in history as WAR CRIMES.
Apartheid was considered just and moral.
The institution of slavery was called just and moral, and even "Christian" in some cases.
Jim Crowe was considered just and moral, and "given the circumstances" THE BEST OPTION.
What Hitler did to the his people German, Jewish and Slav, were called just, morale and (to use a word from Hitler and Mr. Obama): "HUMANE". That right! A bullet to the head was "humane", while they saved "inhumane" treatment for the ones they really didn't like...
Takeaway of the day for me: DRONE STRIKES are actually... HUMANE! WOW. (he's really good)
But before you go out and buy your official I SUPPORT DRONE STRIKES bumper sticker... consider this.
Basically Mr. Obama was saying (with a big wink and a nod) "Trust us to kill THE RIGHT people..." correction, the Right Americans, as in context of the situation (this perpetual war on AQ) it is:
humane,
just,
economical,
morally right and
maybe even morally obligatory,
better for our troops,
better for our foreign relations,
better for the host nation whose people we are generally killing,
saves lives and,
is effective at pushing AQ to the edge of the world.
To this end he even had his administration compile an official PRESIDENTIAL DRONE STRIKE HANDBOOK... otherwise known as DRONE STRIKES FOR DUMMIES.
His speech certainly leaves a person with the impression that: drone strikes (while bad) are in fact GOOD... for every conceivable reason. And we (Americans) are insane if we can't see the (sick) logic, and agree.
And furthermore as President he will not let us make the mistake of disagreeing so these strikes will be kept secret.
Sorry Mr. President, but I don't trust you or any other President to assert the right to usurp the Constitution, and traditional American ideas of Due Process and Law. You and your cabinet are not the Constitution and you are not Judge, Executioner, and Jury.
This American doesn't trust them to take such awesome power and "do the right thing" by killing only THE RIGHT AMERICANS with drones. If this is what our future holds, its a very bleak future indeed.
If we concede the ideological and moral ground for this president or any president to kill SOME Americans, whom HE and HIS CABINET, and possibly some hand picked committee, deem worthy of death for unproven accusations, without Due Process of Law... what does this say about our faith in the very institutions we continue to invoke?
The historical institutions which define freedom for a majority of humanity today such as Due Process of Law, Justice, Democracy, Rule of Law, Respect for International Law... the moral integrity of these ideas is at stake as this President attempts to persuade American's that he is worthy of being the DECIDER of which American's live and die.
I'm sure that many people will agree with his logic, as many people agreed with Hitler's logic, Stalins logic...and many other tyrants who usurped their authority, history's list is long.
Democracy is not carving out your power and then arguing to the people that we must accept it. Democracy is supporting, upholding, enabling and allowing the systems that already exist for solving these problems, to do so.
What was left out of his speech was any mention of two specific things:
A) What is the government's liability when they kill American citizens not on the hit list... in other words what is acceptable COLLATERAL DAMAGE in respect to American citizens?
B) What he will do when Russia, India, Japan, Brazil, China and North Korea begin to likewise use targeted drone strikes against their "enemies" anytime anywhere?? Including against their own citizens at home and abroad.
On such a day it will be a world gone wild... as life and death, justice and moral virtue will be consigned to the digital world of drones, hellfire missiles and "virtual" wars on terror.
Then who will be in the MORAL RIGHT?
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