When President Obama authorized the assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki, there was much rejoicing. A terrorist was gone, al-Qaeda was dealt a major blow, and vital links between jihadists and the West were broken. In addition to Awlaki, three other men were killed,...
The Legal Rationale for Whacking Awlaki Is Flimsy
Although the Obama administration’s legal rationale for killing suspected terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki remains classified at a high level, administration officials, under media pressure to justify killing an American citizen without a trial, finally have leaked most of...
A Dangerous Precedent
Listen to Rep. Ron Paul deliver this address. According to the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, Americans are never to be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. The Constitution is not some aspirational statement of values,...
Journalism 101: If a US Official Says It, Report It
In Pakistan, according to American officials, strikes from Predators and Reapers operated by the CIA have killed more than 2,000 militants; the number of civilian casualties is hotly debated. In Yemen last month, an American citizen was, for the first time, the...
The Government’s Illusory Terrorist Threat
Now that the big kahuna — Osama bin Laden — has been killed, the “War on Terror” is much less exciting. Even before Osama’s demise, experts sent chills through the massive post-9/11 U.S. government anti-terrorism bureaucracies by concluding that the threat from...
I Am a History Teacher, and I Lie to My Students
On Sept. 30, 2011, I woke up and began my daily routine, preparing for another day of teaching history to high school students. In the course of an average school year, I literally teach the history of the world — ancient history, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the...
Assassins of Liberty
The assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki sets the kind of precedent that Americans will come to regret, but for now they cheer, like Romans hailing a death in the arena. Richard Miniter, writing in the Obamaite – and aptly named – Daily Beast, avers that not...
A Double Standard for the Ultimate Penalty
The execution of a potentially innocent Troy Davis last week justifiably horrified many in the United States and around the world. Most of the non-police eyewitnesses had recanted or contradicted their testimony that he killed an off-duty police officer; they alleged...
Obama Lawyers Defend ‘Kill Lists’
Lawyers for the Barack Obama administration told a federal judge Monday that the U.S. government has authority to kill U.S. citizens whom the executive branch has unilaterally determined pose a threat to national security. That claim came in federal court in...
Marked Imam Tests Lawn-Chair Constitutionalists
"He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself." - Thomas Paine The Constitution is being tested in the most extreme way imaginable: does the...