For the record, i do not believe it would be constitutional for the government to target and kill any u.s. citizen with a drone or a shotgun without due process. but when a u.s. citizen goes abroad to wage war against america, and is actively plotting to kill u.s. citizens, his citizenship should no more serve as a shield than a sniper shooting down on an innocent crowd should be protected from a s.w.a.t. team. and you thought your job was tough. president obama doing his best to clarify the administration s drone policy during a major speech in washington this week. he is not the first president to have to explain a controversial decision. he certainly won t be the last. how does history put those choices in context? franklin delano roosevelt was widely remembered for the new deal but he is also known for
Because he said he was working all the time to kill people. but when a u.s. citizen goes abroad to wage war against america and is actively plotting to kill u.s. citizens, and when neither the united states nor our partners are in a position to capture him before he carries out a plot, his citizenship should no more serve as a shield than a sniper shooting down on an innocent crowd should be protected from a s.w.a.t. team. that s who anwar al awlaki was. he was continuously trying to kill people. these new factual allegations about what awlaki did are part of the case the government is now making for why it was okay to kill him. are these new factual allegations true? joining us now is jeremy scahill, national security correspondent and author of the new door stop available at your
Than a sniper shooting down on an innocent crowd should be protected from a s.w.a.t. team. the president made no defense of the other three american citizens who have been killed including abd al awlaki, the 16-year-old of anwar awlaki. despite claims from previous administration officials to the contrary. it is a hard fact that u.s. strikes have resulted in civilian casualties. a risk that exists in every war. and for the families of those civilians, no words or legal construct can justify their loss. for me, and those in my chain of command, those deaths will haunt us as long as we live. the robust defense of the program that has come to define his national security legacy is a signal the president is listening and in some cases responding to his critics. now the big question is, what changes in how the administration actually acts? when our little girl was born,
Any u.s. citizen with a drone or a shotgun without due process but when a u.s. citizen goes abroad to wage war against america, his citizenship should no more serve as a shield than a sniper shooting on an innocent crowd should be protected from a s.w.a.t. team. the president did not discuss at any length the three other americans his administration this week acknowledged it had killed in drone strikes including al awlaki s teenage son. the president asserted the core of al qaeda is gutted but he says the menace of terrorism has mutated in the time since 9/11 to al qaeda affiliates and wanna-bes and home grown extremists. and that drones are often the safest way to conduct the fight. the president says the civilian deaths in drone strikes outside war zones will haunt his chain of command for, quote, as long as we live, but also asserted they re legal because the u.s. is at war with al qaeda. as an olive branch to critics he says the administration will consider options for making
Our partners are in a position to capture him before he carries out a plot, his citizenship should no more serve as a shield than a sniper shooting down on an innocent crowd should be protected from a swat team. that s who anwar al awlaki was. he was continuously trying to kill people he helped oversee the 2010 plot to detonate explosive devices on two u.s. bound cargo planes. he was involved in planning to blow up an airliner in 2009. if faruq abdul helped him tape martyr dom video to be shown after the attack and his last instructions were to blow up the airplane when it was over american soil. i would have detained and