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2011-12-02 Home Front: Politix

CIA: Americans not immune if they act against U.S.

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Posted by gorb 2011-12-02 01:16|| || Front Page|| [4 views ] Top

#1 American citizens are not immune from being treated like an enemy if they take up arms against the United States

A lot of people found that out between 1861 and 1865.

Posted by Procopius2k 2011-12-02 08:30|| 2011-12-02 08:30|| Front Page Top

#2 The trouble is, that now *most*, not just many, of the Patriot Act laws that neutralized the 4th Amendment, radically increased surveillance and search of innocent people with warrantless searches and wiretaps, and led to many federal agencies now having "SWAT-like" law enforcement powers for minor and administrative accusations of crime, are now used EXCLUSIVELY for NON-terrorism related crimes.

In other words, we sold our birthright for a mess of empty paranoia and authoritarianism.

And now, military "agencies", not necessarily who we think of as soldiers, will be able to secretly detain American citizens indefinitely, without arrest or trial.

Assuming that sane congressmen in the House-Senate conference committee do not kill this monster, or that, God help us all, Obama does not keep his promise, and fails to veto it.

Why should this authoritarian nightmare be any different than any of these other unconstitutional and horrific abuses?

This is as un-American as if we were a nation occupied by a hostile foreign power, imposing a martial law state on us.

Do not confuse "military" detention with our armed service branches. These "military" personnel would almost certainly be non-uniformed employees of other federal police and intelligence agencies, in a combined task force organization that does not answer to the Pentagon, yet receives DoD funding.

The very principle is obscene, to suggest that there is any need, ever, for Americans to be detained in America without arrest or trial, or that courts are unable to try such cases.

The police should detain if they must, but then citizens, at least, must be subject to arrest and its concomitant rights, indictment by a grand jury, and trial by a jury of their peers. Any excuse that this is "too burdensome", is utter nonsense.

Posted by Anonymoose 2011-12-02 10:27|| 2011-12-02 10:27|| Front Page Top

#3 Anwar Al-Awlaki was an evolving situation?

Yes. He went from encouraging to aiding to participating in planning attacks on the US and US citizens.

Also evolving was the intelligence picture that determined those facts. It's the latter to which DOD's Johnson referred.

Posted by lotp 2011-12-02 10:59|| 2011-12-02 10:59|| Front Page Top

#4 He went from encouraging to aiding to participating in planning attacks on the US and US citizens.

My thoughts: From the moment he stepped off the plane (if not before) whatever he did fell under "Aiding and Abetting". It's my understanding he was recruiting for Al Qaeda. That's basically the same as hiring hit men to murder Americans. And I would really hate to let a bunch of terrorists gain American citizenship just to shield them from getting what's coming to them. He needed to be killed just as surely as any other recruiter, bombmaker, bagman, or financier.

I'm sure the vast majority of Americans feel this way. The rest can move to Pakistan if it's so wrong.

Posted by gorb 2011-12-02 14:21|| 2011-12-02 14:21|| Front Page Top

#5 And thanks for the insight, lotp. It sounds like the government was waiting for him to step over some line before they went after him. In my mind, it happened as soon as he got off the plane.

Posted by gorb 2011-12-02 14:22|| 2011-12-02 14:22|| Front Page Top

#6 I would think the other part of "evolving situation" was finding the clever gentleman in the middle of his protective Yemeni tribal hosts, then following him with a Predator until he evolved himself into a place where it could reach out and touch him.

Posted by trailing wife 2011-12-02 23:37|| 2011-12-02 23:37|| Front Page Top

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