The U.S. intelligence community policy on killing American citizens who have joined al Qaeda requires first obtaining high-level government approval ---- you can't fix stupid
On Feb 5, 12:31 pm, Travis <[email protected]> wrote: > http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/feb/04/permission-needed-to-... > > February 4, 2010 'Permission' needed to kill U.S. terrorists > > Eli Lake <http://www.washingtontimes.com/staff/eli-lake/> > > The U.S. intelligence community policy on killing American citizens who have > joined al Qaeda requires first obtaining high-level government approval, a > senior official disclosed to Congress on Wednesday. > > Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair said in each case a > decision to use lethal force against a U.S. citizen must get special > permission. > > "We take direct actions against terrorists in the intelligence community," > he said. "If we think that direct action will involve killing an American, > we get specific permission to do that." > > He also said there are criteria that must be met to authorize the killing of > a U.S. citizen that include "whether that American is involved in a group > that is trying to attack us, whether that American is a threat to other > Americans. Those are the factors involved." > > Rep. Peter Hoekstra, Michigan Republican and ranking member of the House > intelligence committee, asked Mr. Blair about the policy of targeting > American citizens at a hearing. It was the first time there was public > discussion about one of the most sensitive U.S. counterterrorism policies. > > Mr. Blair's remarks follow a report in The Washington Post last week that > disclosed President Obama had personally authorized a Christmas eve drone > attack against Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen in Yemen who is chief cleric > for the terrorist group al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Al-Awlaki > is thought to have survived the attack. > > Al-Awlaki was in contact with Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian who > tried and failed to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas Day. > > Al-Awlaki was a former imam at a Falls Church, Va., mosque where Maj. Nidal > Malik Hasan, the officer accused of killing 13 of his fellow service members > at Fort Hood on Nov. 5, is said to have attended sermons and sought his > advice over e-mail. > > In recent years al-Awlaki has developed a following on the Internet for his > English-language jihadist rants. This is a new development for al Qaeda > because most of its Web propagandists write in Arabic. > > Another American al Qaeda operative recently outed to the press is David > Coleman Headley. Last month, the FBI charged Mr. Headley with participating > in the jihadist rampage in Mumbai in 2008 and plotting to attack the offices > of the Danish newspaper that in 2005 published cartoons of the Prophet > Muhammad. > > Mr. Hoekstra made an indirect reference to al-Awlaki, who was born in Las > Cruces, N.M., in 1971. > > "So there is a framework and a policy for what's hypothetically a radical > born cleric … who's living outside of the United States, there's a clear > path as to when this person may be engaging in free speech overseas and when > he may have moved into recruitment or when he may have moved into actual > coordinating and carrying out or coordinating attacks against the United > States?" > > Mr. Blair responded that he would rather not discuss the details of this > criteria in open session, but he assured: "We don't target people for free > speech. We target them for taking action that threatens Americans or has > resulted in it." > > He added, "The reason I went this far in open session is I just don't want > other Americans who are watching to think that we are careless about > endangering … lives at all. But we especially are not careless about > endangering American lives, as we try to carry out the policies to protect > most of the country and I think we ought to go into details in closed > session." > > It is not known how many American al Qaeda members have been killed in the > war on terrorism. One American, Seattle-born jihadist Ruben Shumpert, was > killed by a U.S. missile strike in Somalia. Shumpert was a known Islamist > wanted by federal authorities on gun charges. > > Mr. Blair also said in his testimony that the charter for a special unit to > interrogate terrorists known as the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group, > or HIG, was signed last week and that the HIG was now fully operational. > > Last month, Mr. Blair, appearing before the Senate homeland security > committee, criticized the Obama administration's handling of Mr. > Abdulmutallab and the fact that he was read his constitutional rights > instead of being sent to the HIG. He later issued a statement acknowledging > that the HIG at the time was not yet operational. -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more.
