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Perhaps someone can refresh my memory about who's the good guys and who's the bad guys, and how the good guys believe in laws and due process and that kind of stuff, but the bad guys can just kill on a whim or an after-the-fact rationale?
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?
tmpl=story2&cid=542&ncid=693&e=7&u=/ap/20021203/ap_on_go_ca_
st_pe/american_al_qaida
A couple of spaces in that URL, be careful. From the article:
American citizens working for al-Qaida overseas can legally be targeted and killed by the CIA under President Bush's rules for the war on terrorism, U.S. officials say.
The authority to kill U.S. citizens is granted under a secret finding signed by the president after the Sept. 11 attacks that directs the CIA to covertly attack al-Qaida anywhere in the world. The authority makes no exception for Americans, so permission to strike them is understood rather than specifically described, officials said.
* * *
The Bush administration said the killing of an American in this fashion was legal.
"I can assure you that no constitutional questions are raised here. There are authorities that the president can give to officials," said Condoleezza Rice, Bush's national security adviser, after the attack. "He's well within the balance of accepted practice and the letter of his constitutional authority."
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Well, THAT's certainly a relief! The Bush administration itself has vetted its own authority to try, convict and execute citizens simply by saying "enemy combatant" somewhere along the way. Nothing unconstitutional here. Nope. No sir.
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