If you thought the government's practice of assassinating U.S. citizens was troubling while we assumed targets were chosen by President Obama, a new report gives far greater cause for concern:
From Reuters:
American militants like Anwar al-Awlaki are placed on a kill or capture list by a secretive panel of senior government officials, which then informs the president of its decisions, according to officials.
There is no public record of the operations or decisions of the panel, which is a subset of the White House's National Security Council, several current and former officials said. Neither is there any law establishing its existence or setting out the rules by which it is supposed to operate.
The panel was behind the decision to add Awlaki, a U.S.-born militant preacher with alleged al Qaeda connections, to the target list. He was killed by a CIA drone strike in Yemen late last month.
The role of the president in ordering or ratifying a decision to target a citizen is fuzzy. White House spokesman Tommy Vietor declined to discuss anything about the process.
No doubt the identity of members of this Death Panel will remain strictly classified.
Further, unnamed "current and former officials" told Reuters that "to the best of their knowledge," the 'radical' cleric Anwar al-Awaki - who was targeted in a drone strike in Yemen by the CIA - had been the only U.S. citizen placed on the 'kill list' by the secretive group.
Then get this, the anonymous Death Panel doesn't have to get President Obama's approval for targets placed on the kill list.
Not to worry too much, though...lawyers were consulted, and as we know from the previous administration, that changes everything.
Be sure to read it all.
-Diane
[Photo via Flickr]