Blue Mass Group

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1. I disagree with Tom The Dancing Bug

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   Anwar al-Awlaki ordered the underwear bomber into the US. The FBI and Holder properly caught and tried the bomber. The mastermind is hiding in Yemen, planning more such attacks. It’s sad that a US Citizen went mad with a kill-crazy ideology, but he’s essentially at war with the U.S. and I don’t think he’s likely to turn himself in for trial. He’s going to plan another attack. If Yemen’s police/military won’t stop him or can’t stop him, there’s not sense in letting him enjoy his haven to plan more attacks.

   http://www.salon.com/2012/03/16/in_defense_of_obamas_drones/

   joeltpatterson   @   Sun 18 Mar 8:35 AM
   

   • It must be true if our leaders say it so.

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     Has not our government always spoken truth?

     “Lawless are they that make their wills their law.” –William Shakespeare

     howlandlewnatick   @   Sun 18 Mar 12:07 PM
     

   • Problem is that no court has reviewed the evidence

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     let alone issued a conviction.

     Even with an independent judiciary, innocents are imprisoned and even executed with alarming frequency. Without judicial review, the ability for a single person to be accuser, judge, and jury is an invitation for grave mistakes and abuse.

     mannygoldstein   @   Mon 19 Mar 12:53 AM
     

2. I must admit I've never been able to get myself worked up over this.

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   When someone is a soldier in another army, which essentially al-Awlaki was, he subjects himself to the consequences of war as opposed the justice system. After all, the vast majority of Confederate soldiers were legally United States citizens as we never recognized their secession, but thousands were killed in battle by Union forces rather than all rounded up and tried. If a person is killed by our forces overseas I would equate that more to a combat death than to a lack of domestic due process.

   christopher   @   Sun 18 Mar 1:22 PM
   

3. Gene Lyon's Salon Article

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   From the article in Salon to which our diarist links:
   

   Then why are so many Americans, myself included, so blasé about it? Partly because we’ve all been raised on spy thrillers like the Jason Bourne series, in which picturesque world capitals teem with rogue CIA agents scheming to bump off Matt Damon.

   But more importantly because most feel that, American citizen or not, if you’ve run off to join a band of lunatics at war with the United States, then the United States is also at war with you. Indeed, Congress has specifically authorized armed hostilities against al-Qaida and its affiliates.

   My world view is based on spy-thrillers too.

   kbusch   @   Sun 18 Mar 1:24 PM
   

4. Huh

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   Fact is “war” doesn’t mean “someone we don’t like might maybe be doing nasty things according to convicted criminals.” War has a precise legal meaning, and some guy talking big in a part of the world that’s a mess isn’t “conducting war”.

   Now, if the law hasn’t caught up with the situation, then update the law. Pretending that it’s now okay to murder people because it’s too hard to change the law shows either laziness or a cavalier attitude toward human life.

   sabutai   @   Sun 18 Mar 1:53 PM
   

5. This policy could have been used against Helen Chenowith . . .

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   who was rumored to have some connection to the Oklahoma City bombers. She was never charged with anything because rhe rumors were almost certainly not true. But lack of evidence doesn’t seem to be an obstacle under this policy.

   bob-gardner   @   Mon 19 Mar 7:49 AM