Sunday, October 2, 2011

Did al Awlaki get due process?

Don Surber seems to think he did. At first I agreed entirely with him, but as I read the long comment string I began to have reservations.
Yes, I am glad he is dead, but this goes much deeper then personal feelings about muslims. al Awlaki was born in the United States, so by the 14th amendment, he was a citizen and entitled to due process. They could send a hit team and kill Roman Polanski and I would be alright with it as long as that was in keeping with sentencing guidelines established by vote of congress. I happen to agree with executing scum who molest children, and since he got her intoxicated to do so, this was not a case of age discrimination as some other cases of molestation are, but one that would still be rape if she was thirty. Sadly, the Supreme idiots decided that rape was no longer a crime that qualified for death. So if Roman was target and executed by the government it would be wrong. al Awlaki never had a trial though, and Roman did.
al Awlaki's parents were Yemeni here on a student visa. The 14th amendment says if they are born under the law, they are citizens. Present interpretation is that even the offspring of illegals born here have citizenship, something else I disagree with, but his folks weren't illegals. As a side, I want to note that I have a cousin who was born in Germany when her father was stationed there. When she turned 18, she had to decide whether to be an American citizen, or a German one. At that time, there was no recognition of dual citizenship. To me, it should still be that way. A dual citizen as I understand it, cannot vote in a foreign election and retain his citizenship here. I could be wrong. I think Yemen's last election was to decide whether the male goat or the donkey would be the national sex toy. That was in 1318, so I don't think that disqualifier would apply.
al Awlaki made war against the United States, pure and simple. True he was not in a national army of a recognized nation, but never the less, he was helping terrorists.Unfortunately, the supreme court ruled in Afroyim v. Rusk, that even the lowest scumbag gets to keep his citizenship unless he specifically renounces it. Therefore, by court decision, and not by legislation, al Awlaki was a US citizen. BTW, I don't regard Afroyim as scum, just my interpretation of their mistaken ruling.
I guess we could make claim that al Awlaki was a Yemeni when we killed him, but we are not at war with Yemen, so that argument also fails.
We should fear a government that would assassinate one of its citizens with out an attempt at due process. This could lead to the killing of Americans at home or abroad with out justification on the allegation that they were criminals. Troy Davis got 20 years worth of appeals before he got his just reward. al Awlaki got no such chance.
I'm glad in many ways that he is dead. I wish the courts would have allowed a means whereby a citizen, especially a naturalized one could be stripped of that privilege, but right no it does not exist. We should have gone after him with a SEAL team just as we did Osama bin fishbait. Then had he resisted, we would have the justification for laying him low, or more correctly, a team similar to it but comprised of law enforcement such as Marshals or FBI.
I love my country, I fear my government, especially the one we have right now.

3 comments:

Spartacus said...

If I recall correctly, both he and Samir Khan renounced their American citizenship on YouTube through Jihadi websites. I'm pretty sure a few hours of browsing the archives at My Pet Jawa or Internet-Haganah would prove so.

Gregory said...

Well, the way I see it. Our gummint didNOT assasinate awlaki. They just fired a rocket at some al qaida-like dudes and that traitor happened to be among them. Boo Hoo. I am way more concerned with all of the freedoms we are losing in this country because of left wing action. Can't have a Bible study in your house once a week in California. Can't say stuff because people call it Hate speech. Can't have our concealed weapons in more and more places including hospitals..Trespassing on some guys property while you are out hunting is now a felony...All our public forests are being locked up to vehicles by gummint officers, so if you walk in a shoot a deer way back there, you have one hell of a heart-attack drag getting it out to the nearest road.Political correctness is way more of a problem than some islamist creep falling prey to a hellfire missle.Boo Hoo for awlaki and his ilk. And by the bye, we may not be at war with Yemen right now, but islam IS AT WAR WITH THE WEST.

JeremyR said...

Spartacus, The Court ruled that he had to come in to an embassy and demand it, not by You tube, and not by letter. In person. I don't agree, but its what the court ruled.
Gregory, its all in the same group, government destroying our rights.