Murder, terrorism and hypocrisy

Britain is all atwitter over a supposed terrorist attack in London in which a British soldier was hacked to death by two men - one of whom was a Muslim convert. One of the men allegedly told onlookers that the attack was in retaliation for British soldiers killing Muslims in the Middle East.

Now my understanding of terrorism is that it is an act of violence committed against civilians in furtherance of a political goal. While the death of the soldier is certainly tragic for his family and friends - he is far from an unarmed civilian. He was part of a killing machine that took its marching orders from the British prime minister (and, ultimately, President Obama). The dead man was part of an organization that killed unarmed men, women and children in pursuit of political goals.

Where was the outrage about the thousands of Afghans and Iraqis who died at the hands of soldiers from the United States, Britain and the rest of the allied forces in the Middle East?

In related news, the United States has finally acknowledged it murdered four of its own citizens in drone attacks in the War on Everything Terror. According to a letter from Attorney General (and all-around Obama lackey) Eric Holder, US drones killed Anwar al-Awlaki in a targeted strike. He also admitted that Awlaki's 16-year-old son, Abdul Rahman al Awlaki, and two other Americans, Samir Kahn and Jude Mohammed were killed by drone attacks. Though he said those deaths were unintentional because the individuals were not "targeted."

These four men were murdered by their government without the benefit of due process. They were denied the right to a trial by jury. They were denied the right to confront the witnesses against them. They were denied the right to put on evidence in their behalf.

They are dead because the Obama administration created its own star chamber that acted as judge, jury and executioner.

The government has never presented any evidence to the American people that the allegations that Mr. Awlaki was in a leadership position in al Qaeda. We are being asked to simply accept the word of our government when it comes to the murder of our fellow citizens.

Anwar al-Awlaki was murdered by his government because he exercised his First Amendment right to speak freely. Our government may not have liked what he was saying, but that's far from justification for murdering him. And the order to kill came from a fraudulent winner of the Nobel Peace Prize who has escalated the Bush doctrine that the world is a battlefield.

So, who are the terrorists now?