Thursday, May 31, 2012

Guilty, as charged

Our Constitution provides that anyone accused of a crime will be afforded due process of law (now that's a moving target). That means the accused will be informed of the charges against him. The accused will have the right to counsel. The accused will have the right to confront the evidence and the witnesses against him. The accused will have the right to put on evidence on his behalf. The accused will have the right to remain silent. The accused will have the right to have his fate determined by a jury of his peers.

As the presidential campaign heats up, President Obama is doing his best to show that he is tough on terrorism. He is doing his best to thwart Republican allegations that he is weak on foreign policy. In recent weeks the White House has revealed the method by which it is determined who in the Middle East will die by remote control. First we find out that John Brennan is making decisions on who lives and who dies. Now we find out that the President of the United States is playing judge, jury and executioner.

According to an article in the New York Times:
It was not a theoretical question: Mr. Obama has placed himself at the helm of a top secret “nominations” process to designate terrorists for kill or capture, of which the capture part has become largely theoretical. He had vowed to align the fight against Al Qaeda with American values; the chart, introducing people whose deaths he might soon be asked to order, underscored just what a moral and legal conundrum this could be.
There it is. President Obama is taking responsibility for placing names on the death list. Mr. Obama is a lawyer and certainly he is aware of the law of parties. According to the law on parties, every person who participates in a conspiracy to commit murder, or every person who participates in a murder, regardless of how small the contribution, may be held accountable for the murder.

The Lone Star State doesn't care if you pulled the trigger or just drove the car. They'll kill you just the same. In fact, the driver often gets the worse end of the deal when the actual killer cops a plea and rats out everyone else involved.

The United States has used drones to murder people in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen during the Obama presidency. Those murders were committed without affording due process to those accused of being terrorists. Those murders were committed without evidence being presented in a court of law. Those murders were committed without the unanimous verdict of twelve citizens.

The government and the media like to use the term "extra-judicial killings" instead of calling the murders what they are. But, by accepting responsibility for deciding who needs killing, President Obama is accepting responsibility for the murders of innocent people - including three Americans.
They describe a paradoxical leader who shunned the legislative deal-making required to close the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, but approves lethal action without hand-wringing. While he was adamant about narrowing the fight and improving relations with the Muslim world, he has followed the metastasizing enemy into new and dangerous lands. When he applies his lawyering skills to counterterrorism, it is usually to enable, not constrain, his ferocious campaign against Al Qaeda — even when it comes to killing an American cleric in Yemen, a decision that Mr.
Obama told colleagues was “an easy one.”
President Obama has admitted culpability for the murders. He has violated the Constitution in at least three instances. He is guilty of depriving three American citizens of their due process rights. That, my friends, is far more worse than a "high crime" or misdemeanor.

I wouldn't shed a tear if one day Barack Obama finds himself in the dock at the International Criminal Court at The Hague charged with crimes against humanity for his actions in his War on the Constitution Terrorism. But I won't hold my breath. After all, the only folks who find themselves on the wrong side of the "v" are those who lost, are weak or out of power. Crimes against humanity are those things that They do; we are just defending freedom (read: tyranny).

Barack Obama should be charged with murder. His actions violated the sovereignty of Pakistan and Yemen. His actions have led to the deaths of women and children. He shows no remorse for his actions. But who will avenge those deaths? Who will take up the torch for the Rule of Law?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think that two of the people killed recently, including OBL, were under criminal indictment in the United States. Not in a tribunal, in Federal District Court. How can you give the kill order when your target is under indictment. Talk about no due process.