Anwar al-Awlaki & Samir Khan

[Lamplighter]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

So far:

- You've violated the sovereignty of Yemen. <snip>

As I said as my "second thought" in a previous post.

- You've killed a valuable Navy Seal highly trained service member,
as well as a Yemeni resident of unknown origin. <snip>

Instead, the drone strike killed a second American citizen, as "collateral damage".
Unfortunately, neither of us is privy to the tactical military issues involved in this situation.

Now the legal problems mount:
<snip>

Sorry, but I interpret each of your three issues as political, not legal.
Therefore, they can be overcome if there is the political will to do so.

The previous problems with, e.g., a trial in NYC, were from potentially illegal actions
leading up to the imprisonment in Quantanamo (sp?) and/or use of torture
or other improper actions on the part of the GWB's CIA.

The OJ Simpson trial probably represents just the opposite
of what you fear in the way of a impartial jury trial.
Maybe the Oklahoma bomber could be another example.

I guess I just have more confidence in open government trials
than what the future portends in this never-ending "war on terror",
and whatever future extra-legal actions might be approved by the government.
Remember, the GWB's Attorney General wrote opinions approving whatever the CIA wanted.
These opinions were later found to be wanting (illegal) and revoked.

Classic's article linked above has a pretty good discussion
of potential problems for Americans when it comes to secrecy
of extra-legal government actions.