This diary will be brief but to the point. President Obama acted within his authority as Commander-in-Chief in ordering the death of known enemies of the United States of America. Anwar al-Awlaki was an American citizen. He was also a terrorist and a traitor to this country. He got what was coming to him, what eventually comes to all traitors.
The Free Dictionary defines traitor this way:
The betrayal of one's own country by waging war against it or by consciously or purposely acting to aid its enemies.
While the definition of treason was somewhat overbroad back in old England, the Founding Fathers gave it much more specificity in Article III of the U.S. Constitution:
Under Article III, Section 3, of the Constitution, any person who levies war against the United States or adheres to its enemies by giving them Aid and Comfort has committed treason within the meaning of the Constitution. The term aid and comfort refers to any act that manifests a betrayal of allegiance to the United States, such as furnishing enemies with arms, troops, transportation, shelter, or classified information. If a subversive act has any tendency to weaken the power of the United States to attack or resist its enemies, aid and comfort has been given.
Under Article III a person can levy war against the United States without the use of arms, weapons, or military equipment. Persons who play only a peripheral role in a conspiracy to levy war are still considered traitors under the Constitution if an armed rebellion against the United States results.
Word is Awlaki never actually personally killed an American or attempted to. But he advocated it, and he did it from the perch of a leader exhorting a known terrorist organization (al-Qaeda) to do just that. And one of the penalties for treason is death.
It's pretty simple folks. Wage war against your own country as the inspirational leader of al-Qaeda terrorists or al-Qaeda sympathizers - while we as a country are at war with al-Qaeda - and you risk getting popped.
I don't understand the people who think the POTUS and the country did anything wrong busting a cap on Awlaki, who has committed some well-documented traitorous acts. This wasn't a guy who was going to surrender (why was he on the run if he had surrender in mind?) to U.S. authorities and come back for a trial after which we could execute him the normal way?
He went over to the other side, looked forward to 76 virgins, and got what he wanted.
Good job, Mr. President. Thank you for protecting us from a scumbag who didn't hesitate to inspire or train gullible young men to blow themselves up to kill innocent American civilians and military personnel.