Where's the outrage over the Obama Administration's secret assassination attempts on U.S. citizens?
With Osama bin Laden's death dominating headlines, the fact that Team Obama tried to carry out another War on Terror killing last week didn't attract much attention. But it ought to be big news that one of our drones shot a missile at a compound in Yemen in a failed attempt to kill suspected terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen living far from any battlefield.
Let's assume for the sake of argument that this man is guilty of a despicable treason against the USA. Glenn Greenwald reminds us what the Fifth Amendment demands: "No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger... nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." The Constitution assigns treason to the judicial branch, and states that "no Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court." We're now skipping the grand jury and the due process. (Last year, the New York Times quoted a senior legal official in the Bush Administration saying he did not know of any American ever being put on an assassination list on their watch.)