To Kill an American

A couple weeks ago on February 5, an editorial was released in the New York Times titled To Kill an American. Though no author was specified, the opinionated article was edited by Andrew Rosenthal, and it covers a controversial topic regarding the Obama administration’s recently released “white paper” which provides the legal justification for Obama’s power to order the killing of any American citizen that an “informed, high-level official” decides is a “senior operational leader of Al Qaeda or an associated force.” The article claims that according to Obama and his lawyers, he has the power to do so under Constitutional and Federal law, and dismisses the idea that the other two branches of power have any right to review his decisions to exercise it before, or afterwards. While it is difficult to analyze the author’s credibility as their name has been omitted in the article, the text speaks to all Americans as it argues that regardless of the circumstances, every citizen has constitutional rights and a judge must ensure that they are being respected. It also adds that the document provided by Obama’s lawyers use very vague wording to justify his power and that the only “oversight” required resides within the executive branch, meaning that no justification has to be provided nor even the mere acknowledgement that the killing of such an American ever occurred. The article ends on the belief that going forward, such decisions should be handed over to Congress and the courts for review to, at the very least, provide these citizens the right of due process.

Although I completely understand that there is a justified need to keep decisions like this under a tight lid, I do agree with the author. He or she contributes a very good point when they mention that one possible solution is to create a special court to handle these types of sensitive cases, just like the one which was formed to review wiretapping. Just because someone might be affiliated with a foreign terrorist organization does not exempt them from the rights provided under the Constitution as an American citizen. I think that by not providing these rights, we defeat the very purpose of having them in the first place. Sure, it’s easy to look at it from the perspective that by pledging allegiance to an anti-American organization you basically forfeit your rights as a citizen, but this is America; we’re supposed to be better than. We should strive for equality all across the board – if at least at the most basic level.