"Can you not see at all - does the administration not see at all - that a president asserting that he has the right to kill an American citizen without due process, and that he's not even going to explain why he thinks he has that right, is troublesome to some people?" - Journalist Jake Tapper
Troublesome to some people - murderous to others.
American born Imam, Anwar Al-Awlaki was assassinated by drone strike in 2011. Two weeks later, just after his Denver-born son Abdulrahman Al-Awlaki turned 16 years old, he too was murdered by remote control. Confronted by We Are Change and other journalists, about the dictatorial powers claimed by the White House, Press Secretary at the time, Robert Gibbs first attempted to avoid questions, then spun rhetorical answers. Finally, Gibbs callously asserted that regarding the murder of the 16 year old boy, "I would suggest that you should have a far more responsible father, if they're truly concerned about the well being of their children."
The United States government at first refused to admit responsibility for killing these Americans. Once being outed by certain responsible elements within the press, the White House now admits to the killings, but justifies them only by calling the senior of the Al-Awlaki's a "terrorist". When asked to prove those claims, the White House is stumped and seems indignant about even being asked for evidence - which they claimed was abundant.
'There's plenty of evidence to justify our killing of citizens
- No, we won't show you any of it!' - White House
Apparently, they thought we'd just keep taking their word for it while they expand a war of terror to include anyone at all that the president is willing to kill. Perhaps the White House has gotten far too used to telling scary stories through the compliant corporate-media and having no proof of their claims ever being questioned or sought. Luckily, on occasion, reality strikes one reporter or another and forces them to shine light on the darkest corners of our society; a government seething with blood-lust, soaked in greed, and clearly out of control by any standards of morality or ethics.
If we are truly engaged in a 'War Against Terror' we have clearly already lost. The TERROR has become a way of life in America - not because of "terrorists" around the world (which still account for less deaths than lightening strikes) - but because political dissent now risks not only the lives of Americans, but also our children. Sole discretion of the life and death of U.S. citizens is now claimed by the U.S. presidency. The executive branch of the United States government has now assumed totalitarian control. That threshold is crossed once the claim of power to kill citizens at will is assumed. No one gave that power to these people. No one.
