Rice: Bush on Solid Legal Ground with Derwish Killing
Condoleeza Rice has stated that the U.S. can kill whomever it wants in pursuit of al Qaeda, even U.S. citizens. “I can assure you that no constitutional questions are raised here,” she said of the killing of Kamal Derwish, a U.S. citizen who was in the car with Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi when the CIA used a remotely launched Hellfire missile to blow him up in Yemen on November 3. According to the Bush administration, Derwish was an enemy combatant in wartime. Nice. And since our enemies in this war have no recognizable country or uniforms, and fight on no particular battlefield, and since this war, by definition, will never be over, we basically can just take all that crap in the Constitution that limits the power of the government, and throw it away.
December 3rd, 2002 at 4:23 pm
So, what, in order to be safe from my own country killing me without any reason or even the slightest hint of due process, I have to move to a different country which wouldn’t stand for such things and gain full citizenship there?
Oh, but wait, isn’t sussession from the U.S. illegal as well? And just WRITING that would suggest I’m a terrorist, too, in the eyes of those who want to kill anyone they can in the hopes of winning another election. I risk getting killed either way by such a “free” country as this.
When I was younger I used to be proud to live in the U.S., and it wasn’t because I was a brainwashed youth. It was because I knew that no matter what I did, or what I was accused of doing, my personal rights were what mattered most and protected to the fullest extent of the law.
Now, with freedom of speech and due process literally all but obliterated, I can’t help but find myself disgraced by the government and ashamed to be a part of such an oppressive country.
Finally, to those in power — thanks a lot for kicking my pride, hope, and happiness in the bag, assholes (srry for the profanity, JBC). Now I can see why so many people in so many countries are pissed off; and you haven’t even started imposing sanctions or bombing us. I’d imagine it’s only a matter of time before it happens, though, as the general level of U.S. citizen discourse is swelling to such immensity that sooner or later action will be taken.
March 20th, 2003 at 11:17 am
two legs good, four legs better.