Leaked Obama drone memos are civil libertarians’ worst nightmare

Late Monday night, NBC news revealed a leaked Department of Justice (DOJ) memo describing the Obama administration’s legal case for killing Americans with targeted drone strikes. On Tuesday afternoon White House Press Secretary Jay Carney awkwardly attempted to calm skeptics of the program by further clarifying that the strikes “are legal, they are ethical and they are wise.”

In short, the memo concludes that the extrajudicial killing of American terrorist leaders is constitutional if 1) an informed, high-level official determines that the individual poses an imminent threat of attack (yep, just one guy); 2) capture of that individual is infeasible (it almost always is); and 3) the killing would be permitted under the traditional laws of war (meaning mostly that you can’t kill too many innocent civilians in addition to the target).

The DOJ’s explanation of these factors has civil libertarian groups like the ACLU enraged. For example, using some circular logic, the memo explains that the government can determine that an individual poses an “imminent threat” by simply concluding that they had been previously involved in terrorist planning activity and that there is no evidence they have abandoned those activities.

Put another way, if the government makes a secret determination that you belong on a secret “kill list” of active terrorist leaders, you are automatically considered an imminent threat and subject to extrajudicial killing (which is usually also kept secret).

more here: http://redalertpolitics.com/2013/02/06/leaked-obama-drone-memos-are-civil-libertarians-worst-nightmare/