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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color=black face="Comic Sans MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black;font-weight:
bold'>Golly gee, Bart, what about all that hope and change stuff?? Are we still
not allowed to criticize the most Holy One since he’s biracial and since he’s a
Democrat? Please inform and thanks.<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color=black face="Comic Sans MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black;font-weight:
bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color=black face="Comic Sans MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black;font-weight:
bold'>Kris<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font size=2
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'> Bart Boyce
[mailto:bartboyce@sbcglobal.net] <br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Thursday, April 08, 2010
10:37 PM<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> PAA discussion;
mandell@yahoogroups.com<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Cc:</span></b> HoustonTruth; HCGP discussion;
Code Pink<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> [PAA-Discuss] Confirmed :
Obama Authorizes Assassination of U.S.Citizen</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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New from Glenn Greenwald ....<br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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style='font-size:12.0pt'><a
href="/index.php/home-mainmenu-289/6265-confirmed-obama-authorizes-assassination-of-us-citizen"
$included=null>Confirmed: Obama Authorizes Assassination of U.S. Citizen</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Thursday, 08 April 2010 18:07 <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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align=right v:shapes="_x0000_s1026"><![endif]><i><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-style:italic'>By <a
href="http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/index.html"
$included=null>Glenn Greenwald</a></span></font></i><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>In late January, <a
href="http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/01/27/yemen"
$included=null>I wrote about</a> the Obama administration's
"presidential assassination program," whereby <strong><b><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'>American citizens</span></font></b></strong>
are targeted for killings far away from any battlefield, based exclusively
on unchecked accusations by the Executive Branch that they're involved
in Terrorism. </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>At the time, <em><i><font face=Arial><span
style='font-family:Arial'>The Washington Post</span></font></i></em>'s
Dana Priest had noted <a
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/26/AR2010012604239_2.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2010012700394"
target="_blank" $included=null>deep in a long article</a> that Obama had
continued Bush's policy (which Bush never actually implemented) of
having the Joint Chiefs of Staff compile "hit lists" of
Americans, and Priest suggested that the American-born Islamic cleric Anwar
al-Awlaki was on that list. </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>The following week, Obama's Director of National
Intelligence, Adm. Dennis Blair, <a
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/26/AR2010012604239_2.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2010012700394"
target="_blank" $included=null>acknowledged in Congressional testimony</a>
that the administration reserves the "right" to carry out such
assassinations.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Now,
both <a
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/world/middleeast/07yemen.html?hp"
target="_blank" $included=null><em><i><font face=Arial><span
style='font-family:Arial'>The New York Times</span></font></i></em></a>
and <a
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/06/AR2010040604121.html?hpid=topnews"
target="_blank" $included=null><em><i><font face=Arial><span
style='font-family:Arial'>The Washington Post</span></font></i></em></a>
confirm that the Obama White House has now expressly authorized
the <strong><b><font face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'>CIA</span></font></b></strong>
to kill al-Alwaki no matter where he is found, no matter his distance from
a battlefield. I wrote at length about the extreme dangers and
lawlessness of allowing the Executive Branch the power to murder
U.S. citizens <strong><b><font face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'>far
away from a battlefield</span></font></b></strong> (<u>i.e.</u>, while
they're sleeping, at home, with their children, etc.) and with no due
process of any kind. I won't repeat those arguments -- they're <a
href="http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/01/27/yemen"
$included=null>here</a> and <a
href="http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/02/04/assassinations"
$included=null>here</a> -- but I do want to highlight how unbelievably
Orwellian and tyrannical this is in light of these new articles today.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Just consider how the <em><i><font face=Arial><span
style='font-family:Arial'>NYT</span></font></i></em> reports on Obama's
assassination order and how it is justified: “The Obama administration has
taken the extraordinary step of authorizing the targeted killing of an
American citizen, the radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, <strong><b><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'>who is believed</span></font></b></strong>
to have shifted from encouraging attacks on the United States to directly
participating in them, <strong><b><font face=Arial><span style='font-family:
Arial'>intelligence and counterterrorism officials said</span></font></b></strong>
Tuesday. . . .</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>“American counterterrorism
officials say</span></font></b></strong><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> Mr. Awlaki is an operative of
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the affiliate of the terror network in <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Yemen</st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Saudi Arabia</st1:place></st1:country-region>. <strong><b><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'>They say</span></font></b></strong>
they <strong><b><font face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'>believe</span></font></b></strong>
that he has become a recruiter for the terrorist network, feeding prospects
into plots aimed at the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United
States</st1:place></st1:country-region> and at Americans abroad, the <strong><b><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'>officials said</span></font></b></strong>.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>“It is extremely rare, if not unprecedented, for an
American to be approved for targeted killing, officials said. A
former senior legal official in the administration of George W. Bush said
he did not know of any American who was approved for targeted killing under
the former president. . . .”</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>"The danger Awlaki poses to this country is no
longer confined to words," said <strong><b><font face=Arial><span
style='font-family:Arial'>an American official</span></font></b></strong>,
who like other current and former officials interviewed for this article
spoke of the classified counterterrorism measures on <strong><b><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'>the condition of anonymity</span></font></b></strong>.
"He’s gotten involved in plots."</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>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 <a
href="http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/01/10/yemen.al.awlaki.father/index.html"
target="_blank" $included=null>done vehemently through his family</a>).
None of that. </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Instead, in Barack Obama's <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
the way guilt is determined for American citizens -- and a <strong><b><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'>death penalty imposed</span></font></b></strong>
-- is that the President, like the King he thinks he is, secretly
decrees someone's guilt as a Terrorist. He then dispatches his aides
to run to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region>'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. </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>It is simply asserted that Awlaki has converted from a
cleric who expresses anti-American views and <a
href="http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2010/02/2010271074776870.html"
target="_blank" $included=null>advocates attacks on American military
targets</a> (<a
href="http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/02/04/assassinations"
$included=null>advocacy which happens to be Constitutionally protected</a>)
to Actual Terrorist "involved in plots." These
newspapers then print this Executive Verdict with no questioning, no
opposition, no investigation, no refutation as to its truth. And the
punishment is thus decreed: this American citizen will now be murdered
by the CIA because Barack Obama has ordered that it be
done. What kind of person could possibly justify this or think
that this is a legitimate government power?</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Just to get a sense for how extreme this behavior is,
consider -- as the <em><i><font face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'>NYT</span></font></i></em>
reported -- that not even George Bush targeted American citizens for this
type of extra-judicial killing (though a <a
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A5126-2002Nov4¬Found=true"
target="_blank" $included=null>2002 drone attack in Yemen did result
in the death of an American citizen</a>). Even more strikingly,
Antonin Scalia, in <a
href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/03-6696.ZS.html" target="_blank"
$included=null>the 2004 case of <em><i><font face=Arial><span
style='font-family:Arial'>Hamdi v. Rumsfeld</span></font></i></em></a>,
wrote an <a href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/03-6696.ZD.html"
target="_blank" $included=null>Opinion</a> (joined by Justice Stevens)
arguing that it was unconstitutional for the U.S. Government merely to
<strong><b><font face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'>imprison</span></font></b></strong>
(let alone kill) American citizens as "enemy combatants";
instead, they argued, the Constitution required that Americans be charged
with crimes (such as treason) and be given a trial before being
punished. </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>The <a
href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/03-6696.ZO.html" target="_blank"
$included=null>full <em><i><font face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'>Hamdi</span></font></i></em>
Court</a> held that at least some due process was required before Americans
could be imprisoned as "enemy combatants." Yet now,
Barack Obama is claiming the right not merely to imprison, but to
assassinate far from any battlefield, American citizens <strong><b><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'>with no due process of any kind</span></font></b></strong>.
Even GOP Congressman Pete Hoekstra, when questioning Adm. Blair,
recognized the severe dangers raised by this asserted power.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>And what about all the progressives who screamed for
years about the Bush administration's tyrannical treatment of Jose
Padilla? Bush merely <strong><b><font face=Arial><span
style='font-family:Arial'>imprisoned</span></font></b></strong> Padilla for
years without a trial. If that's a vicious, tyrannical assault on the
Constitution -- <a
href="http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2005/11/true-tyranny-defined-bush-admin-v-jose.html"
target="_blank" $included=null>and it was</a> -- what should they be saying
about the Nobel Peace Prize winner's <strong><b><font face=Arial><span
style='font-family:Arial'>assassination</span></font></b></strong> of
American citizens without any due process?</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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style='font-size:12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>All of this underscores the principal point made in <a
href="http://reason.com/archives/2010/04/06/the-914-presidency"
target="_blank" $included=null>this excellent new article by Eli Lake</a>,
who compellingly and comprehensively documents what readers here well
know: that while Obama's "speeches and some of his
administration’s policy rollouts have emphasized a break from the Bush
era," the reality is that the administration has retained and, in some
cases, built upon the core Bush/Cheney approach to civil liberties and
Terrorism. As Al Gore asked in his <a
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/16/AR2006011600779.html"
target="_blank" $included=null>superb 2006 speech protesting
Bush's "War on the Constitution"</a>:</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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style='font-size:12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Can it be true that any president really has such powers
under our Constitution?</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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style='font-size:12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>If the answer is yes, then under
the theory by which these acts are committed, are there any acts that can
on their face be prohibited?</span></font></b></strong><o:p></o:p></p>
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style='font-size:12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>If the president has the inherent authority to eavesdrop
on American citizens without a warrant, imprison American citizens on his
own declaration, kidnap and torture, <strong><b><font face=Arial><span
style='font-family:Arial'>then what can't he do?</span></font></b></strong></span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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style='font-size:12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Notice the power that was missing from Gore's indictment
of Bush radicalism: the power to <strong><b><font face=Arial><span
style='font-family:Arial'>kill</span></font></b></strong> American
citizens. Add that to the litany -- as Obama has now done -- and
consider how much more compelling Gore's accusatory questions become.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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style='font-size:12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><i><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-style:italic'>This article originally appeared on
the <a href="http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/index.html"
$included=null>web site of Glenn Greenwald.</a></span></font></i><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
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style='font-size:12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>UPDATE</span></font></b></strong><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>: When
Obama was seeking the Democratic nomination, the Constitutional Law
Scholar <a
href="http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2008/specials/CandidateQA/ObamaQA/"
target="_blank" $included=null>answered a questionnaire about executive
power distributed by <em><i><font face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'>The Boston
Globe</span></font></i></em>'s Charlie Savage</a>, and this was one of his
answers:</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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style='font-size:12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>5. Does the Constitution permit
a president to detain US citizens without charges as unlawful enemy
combatants?</span></font></b></strong><o:p></o:p></p>
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<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>[Obama]: No. I reject the Bush
Administration's claim that the President has plenary authority under the
Constitution to detain <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
citizens without charges as unlawful enemy combatants.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>So back then, Obama said the President lacks the
power merely to <strong><b><font face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'>detain</span></font></b></strong>
<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
citizens without charges. Now, as President, he claims the power to <strong><b><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'>assassinate</span></font></b></strong>
them without charges. Could even his hardest-core loyalists try to
reconcile that with a straight face? As <a
href="http://washingtonindependent.com/81550/why-is-it-legal-to-kill-anwar-al-awlaki?utm_campaign=twitter&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitter"
target="_blank" $included=null>Spencer Ackerman documents today</a>, not
even John Yoo claimed that the President possessed the power Obama is
claiming here.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>UPDATE II</span></font></b></strong><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>: If
you're going to argue that this is all justified because Awlaki is an Evil,
Violent, Murdering Terrorist Trying to Kill Americans, you should say how
you know that. Generally, guilt is determined by having a trial where
the evidence is presented and the accused has an opportunity to defend
himself -- not by putting blind authoritarian faith in the unchecked
accusations of government leaders, even if it happens to be
Barack Obama. That's especially true given <a
href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2009/12/16/80788/even-in-cases-the-us-wins-guantanamo.html"
target="_blank" $included=null>how many times accusations of Terrorism</a>
by the U.S. Government have <a
href="http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/03/19/guantanamo-detainee-innocent.html"
target="_blank" $included=null>proven to be false</a>.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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style='font-size:12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>UPDATE III</span></font></b></strong><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>: Congratulations,
Barack Obama: you're now to the Right of <em><i><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'>National Review</span></font></i></em>
on issues of executive power and due process, as <a
href="http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YmEyNmVmYjMyZWVhODQzYjVkNGQ5NDZiZDcxMmFjODc"
target="_blank" $included=null>Kevin Williamson objects</a>: "Surely
there has to be some operational constraint on the executive when it comes
to the killing of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
citizens. . . . Odious as Awlaki is, this seems to me to be setting an
awful and reckless precedent. " But Andy McCarthy -- who is
about the most crazed Far Right extremist on such matters as it gets,
literally -- is <a
href="http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YTcyOGQ2MWY5NmRhODFmNGZiNzRjNjJlNzdhNjRmY2U="
target="_blank" $included=null>as pleased as can be with what Obama is
doing</a> (or, as <a
href="http://gawker.com/5511705/obama-does-something-bloodthirsty-enough-to-please-the-psychos"
target="_blank" $included=null><em><i><font face=Arial><span
style='font-family:Arial'>Gawker</span></font></i></em> puts it</a>,
"Obama Does Something Bloodthirsty Enough to Please the Psychos").</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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