ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? You have the power to do what?

President Obama states he can kill me if he wants to.... W.T.F.??

[Interjections of a hopefully sane nature added by Mike Staples]

As reported by Charlie Turner of "Demand Progress. Org"

(Demand Progress has teamed up with ....The RootsAction.org team to call President Obama to account.)

You can sign a petition to ask President Obama to uphold the rule of law, at...
http://act.rootsaction.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=6570&track=DP

It's astonishing, but he claims that he has the power to assasinate people all over the globe -- including Americans -- with no due process.

"Due process" can be a trial, or a missile through your roof.

[I think I'd prefer a trial, if you don't mind, Mr. President.]


President Obama told CNN this week that he can kill Americans or non-Americans, the difference being that with Americans their killing amounts to their Constitutionally guaranteed due process.

CNN asked Obama how he chooses names for his kill list, but he declined to say. Obama claimed that there are checks on his power, pointing only to checks by his own subordinates, not by courts, not by Congress, and not by the public -- which he reassures with vague statements that amount to "trust me."

Obama claimed that his preference is to capture people rather than to kill them. This does not fit with cases like that of Tariq Khan, a 16-year-old killed by drone strike following his participation in a conference at which he could have easily been captured. It does not fit with the lack of criminal charges against virtually any of the people killed.

Obama claimed that he avoids killing civilians, yet careful research has documented large numbers of civilians killed, including this week in Yemen.

Due process is not, as comedian Stephen Colbert pointed out, just some process that you do.

[I never thought I'd miss Richard Nixon, but this shit is getting scary. Come on Mr. President..... Really? Does this sound like a story that's been played before,...

or is it just me?]
[When did the power of life and death get granted to the President of the United States? Have we become so decadent that we can dictate who lives, and who dies in our world, without fear of retribution by law? President Obama is not the first to believe he has this power. The names of Hitler, and Musolini are the first to come to my mind.]


( RootsAction is an independent online force endorsed by Jim Hightower, Barbara Ehrenreich, Cornel West, Daniel Ellsberg, Glenn Greenwald, Naomi Klein, Bill Fletcher Jr., Laura Flanders, former U.S. Senator James Abourezk, Coleen Rowley, and many others.)

Background:
Bureau of Investigative Journalism: Holding the US to account for civilian drone deaths in Yemen
Bureau of Investigative Journalism: U.S. Secret Wars in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia
Washington Post: U.S. Drone Targets in Yemen Raise Questions
New York Times: Secret 'Kill List' Proves a Test of Obama’s Principles and Will