The Obama administration has quietly put into practice an ‘incomplete idea’ left over from the Bush II presidency: creating a de facto ‘presidential international assassination program.’ Court documents, evidence offered by Human Rights Watch and a special United Nations report allege that US citizens suspected of encouraging “terror” had been put on “death lists.” These reports say Obama’s Director of National Intelligence assured a congressional hearing that the program was within the rights of the executive branch of the government and did not need to be revealed. At least two people are known to have been murdered by Central Intelligence Agency operatives under the program. When the program was challenged in a New York City court the judge refused to rule, saying, “There are circumstances in which the executive’s decision to kill U.S. citizens overseas is constitutionally committed to the political branches and judicially unreviewable.”
Sources:
“Judge Declines to Rule on Targeted Killings of U.S. Citizens,” William Fisher, Inter Press Service, Dec. 8, 2010. http://ipsnorthamerica.net/news.php?idnews=3426
“Letter to President Obama on Targeted Killings and Drones,” Human Rights Watch, Dec. 7, 2010. http://www.hrw.org/news/1210/12/07/letter-obama-targeted-killings
“Confirmed: Obama Authorizes Assassination of U.S. Citizen,” Glenn Greenwald, Salon.com, Apr. 7, 2010. http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/04/07/assassinations
Philip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings, Mar. 30, 2010. http://www.extrajudicialexecutions.org/unitedstateoof america1
“Extrajudicial Killings: U.S. Government ‘Death List’ for American Citizens,” Francis A. Boyle, Global Research, February 10, 2010. http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17527
Student Researchers: John M. Curtin, Molliann Zahm, Maria Rose, Vincent Caruso & George Antzoulis, Niagara University
Faculty Evaluator: Brian Martin Murphy, Niagara University; Mickey Huff, Diablo Valley College