2013-05-22

U.S. Admits To Drone Strikes

I understand that America is at war. Quite honestly it don't bother me none when they "take out the trash" so to speak. In this light, I do sympathize with the President - as I did with Bush.

A President's first and foremost task is to protect citizens and national security.

Drone strikes (which the Obama administration admitted too), however, are problematic. While they're useful in getting rid of scumbags it should not be left to ANY man or woman to decide who gets whacked. That's what due process is all about. Cops know who the bad guys are but are prevented from going in and offing them because of our legal system in the West.

 From NYT comments thread (been a while since I read worthwhile comments over there):

"The problem is that we actually have a legal process for when one party of a legal process cannot actually be there. They are represented by an attorney who speaks on their behalf. It's even done in the case of estates where someone dies without a will and the deceased person is provided an attorney to represent the best interests of the estate.

US citizens are granted special rights to a legal process that we do not extend to others. Without due legal process, these people are still Americans who have been stripped of their right to a fair trial without even having to present evidence to a court.

It doesn't matter what someone is accused of, if we choose to let fear, bias, or retaliation weaken our belief that all Americans should be considered 'innocent until proven guilty in a court of law' then our legal system will crumble."


I kinda lean this way.

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