Reprehensible
However it is viewed, there is something deeply objectionable about the US government's authorization of the murder of a US citizen accused of involvement in terrorism who is currently believed to be in Yemen.
The revelation that the Obama administration had signed off on the killing or capture of US-born radical Muslim cleric Anwar Al-Awlaki came Wednesday in the New York Times, which had officials confirm that Al-Awlaki was on a US "target list." This news sits oddly with President Barack Obama's early announcement that he was stopping the CIA from carrying out assassinations. Even the capture of this individual might involve the violation of Yemeni sovereignty. To be prepared to stage his murder in that country is even worse and amounts to terrorism.
Washington had little to say about Mossad's murder of Hamas leader Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh in Dubai. Even the Europeans managed some albeit muted protests, mostly because of the forging of the passports of EU states. Now it seems clear why the Americans were silent.
The whole point about the war on terror, which every civilized state supports, is that this is a conflict between law-abiding states on the one hand and the powers of bigotry and darkness on the other. In his simplistic analysis, Bush threw out the rulebook in his prosecution of the terrorist menace. The upshot was the disaster of Iraq, the shambles of Afghanistan and the obscene legal limbo of Guantanamo Bay. Better was expected of Obama. Indeed, he promised better. Now news has broken of this sordid plan to seize or kill a US citizen, the latter option without any recourse to the due process of the law.
The use of US drones to kill Taleban and Al-Qaeda leaders in the borderlands of Afghanistan and Pakistan has some shaky basis in law in the eyes of those who support the invasion. But Yemen, although deeply troubled, as recent events on its border with the Kingdom have demonstrated, is still a country at peace and on friendly terms with Washington. The proposed infringement of its sovereignty and the planned extra-judicial murder of Al-Awlaki is, therefore, simply not acceptable.
Just as important, it robs Washington of any moral high ground. Terrorists give no chance to their victims when they bomb and execute them. They are driven by purblind fanaticism and hatred. With every new crime they commit they condemn themselves and deny the cause they profess to pursue. This is equally true of any state that claims to be governed by the rule of law. Al-Awlaki may indeed be a deadly terrorist, involved in the Fort Hood murders of 13 soldiers last November; he may be a traitor not just to his country but to civilized values. None of this, however, means that the legal processes which are supposed to guarantee the effective functioning of a sophisticated state can in certain circumstances be thrown over, because it suits the government.
Obama needs to rescind this illegal order immediately and restate his opposition to extra-judicial murder. Using terrorism against terrorists is insupportable.
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