Obama's first admitted Targeted Individual killing 'unconstitutional'

(in my opinion, we do not "know" that they actually killed the boogey man. . . to me, this is not about Puppet Obama deciding he has the authority to do whatever he wants to anyone he doesn't like, it's about the shadow government giving him orders, and he carries them out to further the precedent for the Office of the President to carry out criminal actions against its own citizens . . . he is an evil puppet, but wants to live . . .)



October 7, 2011
Deborah Dupre, Human Rights Examiner

Drone assassinates hit-listed American Targeted Individual plus another American, Obama claims 'legal'

"So back then, Obama said the President lacks the power merely to detain U.S. citizens without charges. Now, as President, he claims the power to assassinate them without charges."

As President Barack Obama's "targeted killing" executive order declared, it has now been overtly proven that a secret panel of senior government officials can put Americans on a 'kill list,' such as the one American Anwar al-Awlaki was placed, and then inform the president of its decisions even when evidence is "patchy" according to Reuters Thursday. As debate over the U.S. government's targeted killing of al-Awlaki continued this week, ACLU stated Friday that even the president must adhere to the Constitution, but is failing to do so by killing Targeted Individuals.

ACLU Deputy Legal Director Jameel Jaffer took on former Bush lawyer (and torture memo writer) John Yoo on Southern California Public Radio AirTalk (listen here), and also explored the issue on CBC's The Current (listen here).

"There is no public record of the operations or decisions of the panel, which is a subset of the White House's National Security Council, several current and former officials said," reported Reuters. "Neither is there any law establishing its existence or setting out the rules by which it is supposed to operate," according to the report.

A Congressional investigation that began in May questioned whether al-Awlaki's alleged contacts with three of the five hijackers on American Airlines Flight 77 that allegedly crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, "were coincidental or part of the terror plot's development," Catherine Herridge of FOX News reported Thursday.

FOX's Special Unit investigative report, "The American Terrorist," showed al-Awlaki's arrest warrant and the decision to release him from federal custody "was likely withheld from the Sept. 11 commission" convened to review how the Sept. 11 attacks occurred and how to prevent future attacks.

The House Homeland Security Committee, led by Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y. is seeking information about the FBI's contacts with al-Awlaki both before and after 9/11. For example, in October 2002, an FBI agent told customs agents at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York to let al-Awlaki go from federal detention despite was an active warrant for his arrest reported FOX News.

In April 2010, Obama officialized Bush's assassination of targeted individuals program, including Americans on U.S. soil. That authorization, by Obama signing the targeted killing executive order, confirmed that the new global Phoenix Program, recommended by General Patraeus in 2009, had become officially operational. According to thousands of self-identified targeted individuals, the Phoenix Program has been tested and is being used on an untold and growing number of innocent citizens since the September 11, 2001 mass murder in New York City. (See: "Obama targeted individual assassination Phoenix Program includes Americans," Dupré, D., Examiner, April 8, 2010)

Now reported is that a "secret panel" was behind the decision to kill the U.S.-born "militant" preacher al-Awlaki with alleged 'al Qaeda' connections. The panel added his name to one of the target lists and he was then killed the easy way for operatives, by a CIA drone strike in Yemen late last month.

In "Shocking state secrets: Patriot ACT illegal spy domestic terror campaign, the author detailed the new Phoenix Program secretly escalating since 9-11-2001 and that it is not a new Obama administration crime:

"Revelations that the Central Intelligence Agency launched a world-wide assassination program, and then concealed its existence from the U.S. Congress and the American people for eight years, carries an implication that death squads may have been employed against political opponents." (Tom Burghardt, Antifascist Calling, Dick Cheney's 'Executive Assassination Ring', Global Research, July 17, 2009)

"Current and former officials said that to the best of their knowledge, Awlaki, who the White House said was a key figure in al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, al Qaeda's Yemen-based affiliate, had been the only American put on a government list targeting people for capture or death due to their alleged involvement with militants," reported Reuters. Hundreds of thousands of Americans and might beg to differ.

Approximately 350,000 Americans have been under surveillance on a hit-list in the U.S.-led never-ending "war on terror." These Americans are known among their self-help communities as "Targeted Individuals," as the FBI referred to them according to the 1970's congressional investigation into its unconstitutional, illegal, amoral attacks on innocent people. Those attacks have become more sinister and more widespread according to data collected by grassroots groups. Some of those attacks are being legally challenged by Electronic Freedom Foundation and ACLU, not fast enough for Targeted Individual survivors.

ACLU asserted Friday that we need to be thinking about more than one killing. "Much of the debate thus far has focused on Al-Awlaki. But we should be thinking about not only the people the government killed last week, but the power that’s being claimed by the president – and the administration has not said nearly enough about the power President Obama is claiming."

"No one is asking for the government to reveal confidential sources or intelligence-gathering methods – but why can't it even explain its legal justification for essentially executing an American?"

ACLU is not the only major cohort questioning targeted killing of al-Awlaki. As Reuters reported, both conservatives and liberals question secret targeted killings and both have questioned killing al-Awlaki. "Liberals criticized the drone attack on an American citizen as extra-judicial murder" and "Conservatives criticized Obama for refusing to release a Justice Department legal opinion that reportedly justified killing Awlaki."

Conservatives also accuse Obama of hypocrisy according to Reuters. They note that the "Obama administration insisted on publishing Bush-era administration legal memos justifying the use of interrogation techniques many equate with torture, but refused to make public its rationale for killing a citizen without due process."

Anyone's name can be secretly added to one of the Targeted Individual lists

On Tuesday, after reporters asked top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Representative Dutch Ruppersberger about the targeted killing, that Obama signed a targeted killing executive order was not mentioned in any of the media reports. Instead, media reported that the "process" of killing a person without proof of guilt or due process involves "going through the National Security Council" and "then eventually to the president." Is that, however, news?

In his article, "Confirmed: Obama authorizes assassination of US citizens," Glenn Greenwald wrote, "When Obama was seeking the Democratic nomination, the Constitutional Law Scholar answered a questionnaire about executive power distributed by the Boston Globe's Charlie Savage, and this was one of his answers" to question: '5. Does the Constitution permit a president to detain US citizens without charges as unlawful enemy combatants?'

[Obama]: "No. I reject the Bush Administration's claim that the President has plenary authority under the Constitution to detain U.S. citizens without charges as unlawful enemy combatants."

"So back then, Obama said the President lacks the power merely to detain U.S. citizens without charges. Now, as President, he claims the power to assassinate them without charges."

Spencer Ackerman documented that not even "torture judge" John Yoo claimed that the President has power Obama is claiming in his targeted killings orders.

The Center for Constitutional Rights and American Civil Liberies Union have charged that targeting individuals for execution who are suspected of terrorism but not convicted or charged – "without oversight, judicial process or disclosed standards for placement on kill lists – also poses the risk that the government will erroneously target the wrong people."

Referencing al-Awlaki, a man only believed to be a "terror suspect," Greenwald wrote, "No due process is accorded. No charges or trials are necessary. No evidence is offered, nor any opportunity for him to deny these accusations (which he has done vehemently through his family). None of that."

Such is typical in a fascist state, according to Naomi Wolf. Such is typical persecution that Targeted Individuals face daily as they consistently report to Dupré. Their reports reflect being held in secret, invisible, virtual prisons in which remote electronic weaponry is applied to torture and murder them slowly, with no evidence, the perfect crime against the "best people," as PI William Taylor who has helped defend hundreds of innocent Targeted Indivdual calls them.

Taylor has revealed in exclusive interviews by Dupré, the darkest of all the evil 'war on terror" corners, the Phoenix Program come home to roost and subsequent civilian casualties in the present domestic terror campaign, Targeted Individuals. (See: "Part III Secretly forced brain implants: Ex-SS FBI agent defends chipped targets")

Since the 2001 September 11 attacks and Bush's so-called "war on terror," the number of Targeted Individuals (TIs) reporting covert assaults by black operatives, thugs, extremist cells, "stalkers" soared. Some TIs are reporting with evidence of assaults by remotely applied, high-tech, military grade, lethal weaponry. These reports to Dupré have been from both overseas and U.S. self-identified targets. In early August 2010, investigative reporter Sharon Weinberger explained the reason behind the increase in post 9/11 self-reporting:

"After the attacks of September 11, the Pentagon began a shift away from its late Cold War–era 'two-war strategy,' premised on maintaining the ability to conduct two major military operations simultaneously, and began to focus instead on irregular warfare against individuals and groups.' (Emphasis added; Sharon Weinberger, "Black Ops: Secret Military Technology in the Age of Terrorism," August 3, 2010)

"The head of U.S. Special Operations Command talks about 'high-tech manhunting,' while Air Force officials describe plans to compress the 'kill chain.'" (See: "Obama targeted killings lawsuit spotlights American civilians," Dupré, D., Examiner, September 2, 2010)

Instead of any semblance to democracy, for "guilt" to be determined for American citizens and death penalty imposed, "the President... secretly decrees someone's guilt as a Terrorist. He then dispatches his aides to run to America's newspapers -- cowardly hiding behind the shield of anonymity which they're granted -- to proclaim that the Guilty One shall be killed on sight because the Leader has decreed him to be a Terrorist," wrote Greenwald. (See: "Obama targeted individual assassination Phoenix Program includes Americans," Dupré, D., Examiner, April 8, 2010)

According to Ruppersberger, the National Security Council does the investigation; has lawyers, reviews, "looks at the situation" and "you have input from the military." (Emphasis added) He also said, "we make sure that we follow international law."

Officials confirmed that lawyers, including those in the Justice Department, were consulted before adding al-Awlaki's name to the "target list." The officials insisted on anonymity to discuss sensitive information reported Reuters, but said two principal legal theories were advanced: 1) Congress permitted targeted killing actions when it authorized using military forces against militants after September 11, 2001; and 2) the actions are permitted under international law if a country is defending itself.

Several officials said that when al-Awlaki became the "first American put on the target list," Obama did not have to personally approve targeting the individual and one official said Obama would be notified of the principals' decision. If Obama objected, the decision would be nullified according to the official.

A former official said one reason for making senior officials principally responsible for nominating Americans for the target list was to "protect" the president.

ACLU's response was, that the leaked information shows the other disturbing aspect of what happened: "the executive branch acting without oversight by other branches."

"The Constitution made the judiciary a co-equal branch of government so that there would be a check against overreach by the political branches. Obviously the judiciary is not playing that role here."

Millions of secrets, snitches, stalkers and ruined Targeted Individuals' lives, the stuff of military dictatorships

Last week, FOI documents obtained by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) show 8000 American Targeted Individuals secretly persecuted due to being on one of secret agencies' hit-lists. Furthermore, the documents showed that the "Federal Bureau of Investigation is permitted to include people on the government’s terrorist watch list even if they have been acquitted of terrorism-related offenses or the charges are dropped, according to newly released documents EPIC obtained, the Times recently reported.

There are 3,984 federal, state and local organizations secretly working on "domestic counterterrorism," secretly operating agencies in the U.S. according to a two-year investigation by Washington Post journalists Dana Priest and Bill Arken.

In Naomi Wolf's "10 Steps to Fascism," each of which the U.S. has taken, her third step is: "Develop a thug caste or paramilitary force not answerable to citizens." (Police and military police are in operation, even with an Executive Order signed by President Obama for "targeted killings," to assassinate Americans on U.S. soil.)

Wolf's seventh step is: "Target key individuals (such as Self-identified Targeted Individuals now report they are being targeted and whom officials refuse to aid or protect). (See: "End of America: The 10 steps have been taken for fascism," Dupré, D., - National Human Rights, Examiner, August 2011)

"Officials confirmed that a second American, Samir Khan, was killed in the drone attack that killed Awlaki. Khan had been editor of Inspire reported Reuters that described the magazine as "a glossy English-language magazine used by AQAP as a propaganda and recruitment vehicle." Officials furthered that Khan was in the wrong place at the wrong time and Ruppersberger said Khan was "collateral," not an intentional target of the drone strike.

Demonstrating the racist basis of today's Targeted Individual hit-listing, Reuters reported that all it takes for a person with a foreign name to be added to one of the "targeting lists" (plural) and additions are for the "intelligence community" to decide. No approval by high-level NSC officials needed.

Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, candidate for president, criticized Obama for his assassination of al-Awlaki, saying in a National Press Club talk that, if American citizens did not protest such killings, reporters could be placed on one of the hit lists.

“Can you imagine being put on a list because you're a threat?" Dr. Paul asked. (See embedded Youtube in this page.)

"What's going to happen when they come to the media? What if the media becomes a threat?” he asked, according to Associated Press.

It has become increasingly apparent that, unlike what many have expressed to this writer, a high-profile is not required to be a subject of interest and targeted. Furthermore, "patchy" evidence is apparently enough to target an individual for persecution, such as subjecting the Targeted Individual through regular travel delays due to TSA gropings in public, swiping bags to detect bomb residues, interrogations at airports and train depots - and enough to even kill the Targeted Individual.

Reuters reported that "officials acknowledged that some of the intelligence purporting to show Awlaki's hands-on role in plotting attacks was patchy."

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