Obama administration acknowledges drone strikes killed 4 Americans since 2009

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

Wonder how the the Obama puppets are going to make this Bush's fault.I found it interesting he said he is striving to be more transparent about counter terrorism operations. So he wants to disclose our operational tactics to the enemy, but if you use the IRS to spy on Americans plead the 5th.

The country has gone mad.

Obama administration acknowledges drone strikes killed 4 Americans since 2009

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/05/22/four-americans-killed-since-200-in-drone-strikes-holder-says/#ixzz2U4rTJqhm

Four American citizens have been killed in counter-terrorism drone strikes since 2009, the Obama administration acknowledged for the first time Wednesday.

Attorney General Eric Holder disclosed the previously classified information in a letter to a top senator that also included the names of those killed and the revelation that only one was directly targeted in the strikes that began in 2009. He did not specifically call them drone strikes – rather, he referred to “counterterrorism operations” – but most of the individuals he mentioned are known to have died in drone strikes.

The targeted individual, Anwar al-Awlaki, was a radical Muslim cleric whom U.S. officials said was involved in planning Al Qaeda operations and terror attacks. He was killed in September 2011 in Yemen.

The acknowledgement came ahead of a major counterterrorism policy speech by President Obama scheduled for Thursday.

Holder said in the letter that the Obama administration is “aware” of three other U.S. citizens killed in such counter-terrorism operations besides al-Awlaki: Samir Khan, Jude Kennan Mohammed and Awlaki’s son Abdulrahman Anwar al-Awlaki, Holder said.

However, Holder wrote, “these individuals were not specifically targeted by the United States.”

Holder addressed the letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

Khan died in the same drone strike that killed Anwar al-Awlaki. Abdurrahman, al-Awlaki’s 16-year-old son and a Denver native, was killed in Yemen two weeks later. Mohammed was killed in a drone strike in Pakistan.

The White House responded just minutes after the information was made public in another news report, saying President Obama ordered the disclosure to build on his effort – included in this year's State of the Union address – “to pursue greater transparency around our counter-terrorism operations.”

A White House official told Fox News the release of the information coincides with a scheduled speech Thursday by the president in which he will discuss the country’s “broader counter-terrorism strategy,” including the policy and legal rationale for the use of targeted, lethal force against Al Qaeda and its associated forces.

The killing of Anwar al-Awlaki, a New Mexico native who was educated at George Washington University, was widely known even before the release Wednesday and sparked widespread debate over whether an American citizen abroad or on U.S. soil should be targeted and killed without a trial.

Holder laid out the administration’s case in specific detail, writing, “al-Awlaki was a senior operational leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the most dangerous regional affiliate of al Qaeda and a group that has committed numerous terrorist attacks overseas and attempted multiple times to conduct terrorist attacks against the U.S. homeland.”

The attorney general also said al-Awlaki was “intimately involved in detailed planning and putting in place plots against U.S. persons” and that he made clear he wanted the attacks to kill Americans.

Holder cited in his five-page letter the justification he made in 2012 for the program, when he said “it is an unfortunate but undeniable fact” that a “small number” of U.S. citizens “have decided to commit violent attacks against their own country from abroad.”

"Since entering office, the president has made clear his commitment to providing Congress and the American people with as much information as possible about our sensitive counterterrorism operations," Holder also told Leahy. "The administration is determined to continue these extensive outreach efforts to communicate with the American people."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/05/22/four-americans-killed-since-200-in-drone-strikes-holder-says/#ixzz2U4rrEsDy

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Well you could catch and prosecute them but then you all right wing nuts get all skeered and stuff having terrorists tried in federal courts and all. So he's basically doing you all frightened little chits a favor.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

Well you could catch and prosecute them but then you all right wing nuts get all skeered and stuff having terrorists tried in federal courts and all. So he's basically doing you all frightened little chits a favor.

And if that report had said killed when gwb was president you would have lost your mind. So you are ok with drones killing Americans. Maybe the IRS can get a few

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Impeach the usurper now!

[GandD 5,966]

Impeach the usurper now!

The key is one leach for each usurper.

It's a game of thrones ref........... I'm uh, a nerd. Shut up.

[ready4ONE 5,400]

And if that report had said killed when gwb was president you would have lost your mind. So you are ok with drones killing Americans. Maybe the IRS can get a few

Actually it's quite possible Bush's drone strikes killed an American or two. Not hanging out with, or being a terrorist is really the best way to avoid such a fate.

And I didn't have an issue beyond wishing they were unnecessary then or now.

But none of the deaths in your OP are new news. Back to the drawing board with you!

[B_J 2,752]

The key is one leach for each usurper.

It's a game of thrones ref........... I'm uh, a nerd. Shut up.

Ahhh, but how nerdy are you? Are you TV series nerd or book nerd? Book nerd is much more impressive nerdiness.

[B_J 2,752]

Well you could catch and prosecute them but then you all right wing nuts get all skeered and stuff having terrorists tried in federal courts and all. So he's basically doing you all frightened little chits a favor.

But the difference is that, in one case, it was the targeting and killing of an American citizen without a trial. It is totally different than every other situation. That should have garnered a lot more discussion than it did. And honestly, given what I know of the situation, I'm not sure whether its right or not.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

But the difference is that, in one case, it was the targeting and killing of an American citizen without a trial. It is totally different than every other situation. That should have garnered a lot more discussion than it did. And honestly, given what I know of the situation, I'm not sure whether its right or not.

What was the Republican hype about what to do with this little ** that bombed the Boston Marathon? That's right, they wanted him treated as an enemy combatant. Never mind that he is a US citizen. What do you think Republicans would have unleashed on the administration had it brought Al-Awlaki back into the states to have him stand trial in federal court? They would have demanded that Al-Awlaki be held and tried in Gitmo like he's not a US citizen. That's because they're skeered little chits.

Look, I don't like the idea of using drones to fight this ridiculous war on terrorism at all. Never said a word in support of it and often voiced my opposition. I don't like that whole war on terrorism period. It's as stupid a war as the war on drugs. And I like it much less that American citizens are targeted in this manner by their government. It's wrong. Gravely wrong. Plain and simple.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

And if that report had said killed when gwb was president you would have lost your mind. So you are ok with drones killing Americans. Maybe the IRS can get a few

Bush got thousands of Americans killed and tens of thousands of others. I have not lost my mind over that. I opposed it. Just as I oppose the drone war, the war on terrorism, Gitmo, the war on drugs, the war on the middle class, the war on gays and the targeted killing of Americans by their government. I've never been okay with that. Not sure what makes you think that I am or have been.

[Penny Lane 8,159]

Ahhh, but how nerdy are you? Are you TV series nerd or book nerd? Book nerd is much more impressive nerdiness.

I, personally, am both! I far prefer the books, though.

[B_J 2,752]

What was the Republican hype about what to do with this little ** that bombed the Boston Marathon? That's right, they wanted him treated as an enemy combatant. Never mind that he is a US citizen. What do you think Republicans would have unleashed on the administration had it brought Al-Awlaki back into the states to have him stand trial in federal court? They would have demanded that Al-Awlaki be held and tried in Gitmo like he's not a US citizen. That's because they're skeered little chits.

Look, I don't like the idea of using drones to fight this ridiculous war on terrorism at all. Never said a word in support of it and often voiced my opposition. I don't like that whole war on terrorism period. It's as stupid a war as the war on drugs. And I like it much less that American citizens are targeted in this manner by their government. It's wrong. Gravely wrong. Plain and simple.

Well, some of us don't think about politics all the time. And I certainly didn't think about politics after the Boston Marathon bombings.

I know Bush would have been blasted in the media and on here if he had targeted and killed American citizens in a drone strike.

And again, I have no idea what the right thing to do is when dealing with somebody like Al-Awlaki. I just think it is a topic that deserved more discussion than it received.

[GandD 5,966]

Ahhh, but how nerdy are you? Are you TV series nerd or book nerd? Book nerd is much more impressive nerdiness.

Well, the reference was from the TV show but I'm a complete book nerd.

I, personally, am both! I far prefer the books, though.

Yeah, what she said.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Using what Bush did to to justify what Obama is doing does not stop the of summary executions of US citizens in violation of the US Constitution.