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Saul Loeb / AFP - Getty Images
CIA director nominee John Brennan during a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan. 31, 2013.
Amid new developments and revelations, President Barack Obama’s national security policies, past and future, are set to come under Senate scrutiny Thursday.
Most notably, Obama’s nominee to head the Central Intelligence Agency, John Brennan, will address what role the targeted killings of terrorists, either by using drone strikes or other means, have played and should play in national security policy.
Questions about targeted killings intensified Monday after a report by NBC News revealed a Justice Department memo which argued it was lawful for the president to target U.S. citizens who are leaders of al-Qaida or “an associated force.” Brennan will be appearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee for his confirmation hearing.
On Wednesday, an Obama administration official said the president had directed the Justice Department to give the congressional intelligence committees access to classified memos justifying the targeted killings policy. Until now the administration had refused to do this.
Addressing the past on Thursday will be Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as they testify before the Armed Services Committee about the Sept. 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi.
Senators on the panel -- especially Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. -- want to know how the U.S. military reacted to the attack, and what the Defense Department’s internal review revealed after the event.
The two hearings will feature contrasting political color: Republicans -- led by Graham, Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire -- have been the ones who have made an issue of the Benghazi attack almost since it took place. They’ve implied that a full accounting of what happened was delayed until after the presidential election. Graham held up Obama’s nomination of Chuck Hagel to be defense secretary until he could get a chance to question Panetta about Benghazi.
But Obama’s drone policy -- directed largely by Brennan in his role as Obama’s counter-terrorism adviser -- has drawn criticism both from progressives on the left and those on the right who are fearful of an excessive concentration of power in the presidency.
On Benghazi, much is already known. In its report on the attack, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee said last December that Panetta’s Defense Department and Hillary Clinton’s State Department hadn't jointly studied the availability of U.S. military forces to defend or rescue the U.S. diplomats in Benghazi in the event of a crisis.
The Pentagon’s Africa Command didn’t have planes, helicopters, or other forces close to Benghazi on the day of the attack. “The Djibouti base was several thousand miles away. There was no Marine expeditionary unit, carrier group or a smaller group of U.S. ships closely located in the Mediterranean Sea that could have provided aerial or ground support or helped evacuate personnel from Benghazi,” the report said.
As for Brennan and drones, Micah Zenko, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of a new report called “Reforming U.S. Drone Strike Policies,” said Obama’s choice of him as CIA director “now places him as the lead executive authority over all CIA drone strikes. The real question is whether John Brennan’s move from the White House to Langley to be director of the CIA is in fact an effort for the CIA to get out of the drone strikes business.”
Zenko noted that Panetta recently said that the Pentagon, not the CIA, should be conducting the drone strikes against al-Qaida suspects.
But Zenko cautioned against those who would head into the Brennan hearing with high hopes for new information. Having read transcripts of the past 10 CIA director confirmation hearings, he said, “It would be unprecedented if there were an in-depth discussion about ongoing covert activities.” The Senate Intelligence Committee “simply doesn't work that way, especially under chairman Sen. (Dianne) Feinstein” of California, he said.
A memo from the Justice Department, provided to NBC News, provides new information about the legal reasoning behind one of the Obama administration's controversial policies. NBC's Michael Isikoff reports.
Zenko added that the most useful line of questioning of Brenna would be regarding his conceptions of airpower. Brennan has repeatedly used the cancer analogy for air strikes killing terrorists without damaging the surrounding “tissue.”
“That's a dangerous, antiseptic, and unrealistic conception of military force,” Zenko said.
Interrogation vs. deadly strikes
But Obama spokesman Jay Carney told reporters at a White House briefing Wednesday, “Far fewer civilians lose their lives in an effort to go after senior leadership in al-Qaida” by using drone attacks “as opposed to an effort to invade a country with hundreds and thousands of troops and take cities and towns.” Implication: if you want to avoid another Iraq or Afghanistan, then support Obama’s drone policy.
Carney said Obama believes “that we need to move forward with more transparency as well as create, in his words, a legal framework around how these decisions are made.” But Obama believes he has the full constitutional authority to order targeted killings -- “transparency” or no transparency.
For those skeptical of Obama’s policy, there will be two other possible lines of questioning directed at Brennan:
- Do the foreign policy costs of Obama’s use of drones -- alienating and angering people in Muslim countries -- outweigh its benefits?
- Does the drone policy suggest that Obama would rather kill jihadists than capture them? Adding more detainees to those already held at Guantanamo -- a facility he pledged to close but hasn’t -- could amount to a political public relations headache.
The drone strikes have been unpopular in Pakistan and other countries. Making the case that drone strikes have high costs as well as benefits, the former U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, told Reuters recently, “What scares me about drone strikes is how they are perceived around the world. The resentment created by American use of unmanned strikes … is much greater than the average American appreciates.”
Brennan has an opportunity on Thursday to rebut this view. He argued last August that “contrary to conventional wisdom, we see little evidence that these actions (drone strikes) are generating widespread anti-American sentiment or recruits” for al-Qaida. The targeted strikes against terrorists, he said, “are not the problem, they are part of the solution.”
Finally, Thursday’s Brennan hearing is a chance for senators on the panel to ask him whether Obama is using drone strikes as a less politically troublesome option than capturing detainees and putting them in Guantanamo.
This is an argument that former Bush administration officials such as ex-CIA director Gen. Michael Hayden and former CIA legal counsel John Rizzo have made.
Last week in a panel discussion at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative Washington think tank, Hayden said interrogating al-Qaida operatives is a vital source of insight into the terrorists’ plans and capabilities:
But he warned, “We have made it so legally difficult and so politically dangerous to capture that it seems, from the outside looking in, that the default option is to take the terrorists off the battlefield in another sort of way” – in other words, by killing them. This could result in a loss of valuable intelligence.
Rizzo said, “It’s always been in the agency’s institutional DNA to want to collect intelligence by all sorts of means, especially human intelligence. You can’t collect human intelligence from a dead guy.”
Related:
White House: Congress to get classified drone info
4 key questions about controversial Justice Department drone memo
Leave a Comment:
"You can’t collect human intelligence from a dead guy.”
You also can't collect human intelligence from just about anyone in Washington either.
Kill or capture. That is the question. Someone has to make the call. Is there a trade-off between economy, intel gathered, negative reaction, and the terrorist's recruiting? (To say nothing about the terrorist being American!)
Exactly. Which makes the thought of these clowns in charge of these drone missions all the more frightening.
The Obama administration's proof that waterboarding is useless.
We are certainly lucky someone leaked a memo so the American people could find out what the most transparent administration ever has been doing.
Controversial comments from Brennan.
"Nor do we describe our enemy as 'jihadists' or 'Islamists' because jihad is a holy struggle, a legitimate tenet of Islam, meaning to purify oneself or one's community, and there is nothing holy or legitimate or Islamic about murdering innocent men, women and children," Brennan said.
Brennan took his views on Hezbollah into the administration, telling an August 2009 event in Washington that the group had “a terrorist core,” but adding that “a lot of Hezbollah individuals are in fact renouncing that type of terrorism and violence and are trying to participate in the political process in a very legitimate fashion.”
The Iranian- and Syrian-sponsored Shi’ite group, which also participates in Lebanese parliamentary politics, is blamed for attacks included a series of suicide bombings in Beirut in 1983 which killed more than 300 people, including 241 U.S. servicemen and 58 French troops.
Waterboarding works and do not hurt, nobody died , it just scare . Waterboarding lead to kill Osama.
Drones killing Americans without due process is unconstitutional. Waterboarding suspects terrorist is not.
What happens when these countries (yemen,iran,iraq,afghanistan) or al quiada get a drone? will they be targeting government/military people in europe, america, mideast?...What makes us so special....
Controversial comments from Brennan.
"Nor do we describe our enemy as 'jihadists' or 'Islamists' because jihad is a holy struggle, a legitimate tenet of Islam, meaning to purify oneself or one's community, and there is nothing holy or legitimate or Islamic about murdering innocent men, women and children," Brennan said.
_____________________________________________________
Sounds like something some tree hugging hippy would say. What does the Supreme leader of ISLAM say? What does Winston Churchill say?
"Islamophobia": The fear of speaking out against the rapidly growing religion/ideology that is out to repress all who do not follow its doctrine.
Sir Winston Churchill
"Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it.
No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step..."
"The sword of Muhammad and the Quran are the most fatal enemies of civilization, liberty, and the truth which the world has yet known." - The eminent orientalist Sir William Muir (1819-1905)
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini
"Those who know nothing about Islam pretend that Islam counsels against war. Those people are witless. Islam says: 'Kill all the unbelievers just as they would kill you all!' Does this mean that Muslims should sit back until they are devoured by the infidel? Islam says: 'Kill them, put them to the sword and scatter them.' Islam says: 'Whatever good there is exists thanks to the sword.' The sword is the key to Paradise, which can be opened only for the Holy Warriors! Does all this mean that Islam is a religion that prevents men from waging war? I spit upon those foolish souls who make such a claim."
Careful Redvirginia, when you were the other guy clothes, walk in his shoes, and plot to kill your own Americans you are a traitor. Al Waite didn't give up his citizenship that I know of, but since I know who he is and what he has done do you think that I or others like me are going to let him waltz back into MY country ever again. I would take him out in a heartbeat. Just because you are born here doesn't mean you are an American. If you exercise your rights to join the other side than I can exercise my right to take you out.
Substitute "Christians" for "Muslims" and the statement is equally true.
Churchill said that? I got to check that out and if I don't find it you're a Troll. I once worked with a fine, intellegent youg man from Iran. You failed to mention that peaceful Khoemeini came into power under gun fire. The young man that I worked with fought against Khomeini. That was in about the mid 80s. To this day he can not return home to see his family as there is still a bounty on his head. You have got to be one idiot if you think I believe a word of what you say. about peaceful Khoemeini?
I've been reading posts on this subject for a few days now, and I am totally shocked and baffled. The ACLU is defending this terror guy Alaki, condemning drone strikes etc. And republicans are supporting the same stand as the ACLU? really? Now all of the sudden republicans want to protect the rights of those Al quaida guys? really?
You guys have reached the point where you will defend the 911 attackers just to oppose the president? I can only sit here in disbelief of what i am reading.
Just a point. before drones, bush, Clinton, the other bush and Reagan used conventional bombers. Therre are only two differences. first, there is no pilot to put in danger. seconed, they are bery stealth and can fly a bit slower then a jet without a large silhouette. (harder for the enemy to shoot down).
the only difference , really, is the equipment. also note, drones do less area damage. with a conventional bomb you destroy a bigger area and can miss the target more easily.
Gen. McChrystal is trying to say two things: 1) The enemy hate the fact that they haven't got a recognizable target (uniformed soldier) to shoot at while they hide among civilians. 2) The military should continue to fight like they have for centuries - send people into battle so the leaders can justify their existence and demonstrate their leadership skills.
The rest of the world feels that Americans should fight like the military has for centuries - recognizable uniforms in predictable formations. All the while the enemy wants to use guerilla tactics that morph from situation to situation. This gives an idea of who the better warriors are.
george pauljohn,
Yeah, isn't it ironic? This demonstrates a fundamental difference between the Left and the Right. A lot of my friends on the Left are agonizing over the use of drones and writing about their conflicted feelings on these threads--and some are strongly opposed to the use of drones, while others are for it. You will never see the Right do that. But they will take a stance that is completely opposite to their ideological beliefs if President Obama instigates the action.
Go ahead but give me an example of Christian "jihad" or name one terrorist group that is killing innocents in the name of Jesus , with the blessing of Christians Religious leaders. It is true that many people call themselves Christian and commit horrendous crimes , but that is not what Jesus ask to do. Mohamad convert with his Holy sword to the infidels, and terrorist groups like Hezbollah, Islamic Brotherhood and also AlQaeda have the support of Muslim Clerics. Can you see the difference smarty, is not just replace a word.
Hagel...dont let those Jewish Politicians push you around! If they are scared of you then you are on the right track to put these corrupt politicians on the front page and expose the Zionists for who they are. Our government is filled with Muslim, Jewish and Christian Extremists with powerful lobbies that are in direct conflict with WE THE PEOPLE. We can't keep begin the bully in the world, we don't like bullies here and our media sure as hell won't be honest with what we are doing. If the past is an indicator we are the manipulating invaders IMO>
There are those in Afghanistan and elsewhere who see the U.S. as terrorists, killing innocent civilians, and who are doing those killings (with drones or otherwise) in the name of Jesus, with the blessings of clerics in this country (Pat Robertson, to name one of many, many). You can disagree all you want with their perception, but it's true for them, and you should respect their right to their views.
John Brennan should not be confirmed to head the CIA!
He is responsible for instituting policies that are in direct contradiction to the Constitution & the Bill Of Rights that we are supposed to enjoy without infringement by our government. This policy puts every American, at home or abroad, at risk for assassination by his own government and by others that are against our governments actions in their own lands. This will in the next few years be the cause of more deaths of innocent Americans abroad than the deaths that occurred on 911 by "terrorist" actions.
All Associated with and instigating this policy are TRAITORS and should be rounded up and sent to jail and await trial .... Their secret action is the most deplorable action in my lifetime in destruction of our Constitutional rights ...
We should be throwing Eggs & Tomatoes at any of our government puppets & elected officials that have invented & approved this illegal policy when ever they show themselves in public!
Why have they gone in this direction?
The same reason a dog licks his balls .... BECAUSE THEY CAN!
If another nation was in the power position of the United States and rained drones on US officials & citizens ..we would be screaming like stuck pigs ..
I now await the first drone strike on Washington & selective targeting on public officials .... it's only a mater of time! We will Reap what we Sow ...
This is not a "left" or "right" issue ... it's a American Constitutional issue ... for the fools that want to blame one party or the other ...
I ask you , not what those people of Afghanistan think, they are ignorants Talibans living in the Meddle Ages, you are not , you say "Substitute "Christians" for "Muslims" and the statement is equally true" , you just speak nonsenses to justify your bigotry. No American soldier kill in the name of Jesus even they are Christians and give me a quote of Pat Robertson supporting the killing of innocents in the name of Jesus......You are nut.
Red - Christians did it for centuries. It was called the crusades. It still goes on today. There may not be overt blessings but the ideology is still there.
redvirginia,
You're either off your meds this morning or you've taken too many of them. You're practically incoherent.
The hearing of John Brennan has been interrupted and the chamber cleared of protestors .. apparently the feelings on this nominee are quite strong ... rarely has this occurred ..
the hearing is now being reconvened ...
george pauljohn, don't act so surprised. The Republikans sabotaged our economy trying to take down our president. 15 of them conspired the first night of his first term to do Anything to make him a one term President, even if it meant causing suffering for millions of Americans. So why wouldn't they want to protect members of AlQaeda? They are on the same side, enemy's of the United States of America.
eric/I consider that you are very close to right in your blog on the questionable behaviour of some of our right wing Republican Opposition.We are in an undeclared war with some countries.If we were in a legal war this government would be within its rights to charge them with giving aid to our enemies. They should be ashamed to consider themselves Americans.
I hope that Both Republicans and Democrats unite and stop Brennan from becoming CIA director. Brennan is more interested in serving Obama to attack innocent Americans over here than taking out terrorists over there. Obama is trying to consolidate his power with Brennan at his side the CIA will be abused and misused. One must remember the reason one joins and goes into the CIA. The CIA is to gather Intelligence for America. America is supposed to come first not some International. We can cooperate with friendly allies but to put these foreigners first BEFORE American Interest is AGAINST every thing the CIA stands for. What I said on another thread the day of the Public Brennan Hearing still stands. Let me remind those who have not seen it. "I have been watching the Brennan hearing blow by blow and I have decided that if I were a Senator with the power to vote an up or down vote, I would vote NO!!! I would not want this man head of the CIA. When a Senator asked him about Drones being used against Americans on American soil he evaded the question only eluding that he will willingly attack Americans on our own soil. Brennan showed more concern for terrorists over there than Americans over here. He was caught by several Senators as being the MAIN leaker causing the death of an important "Asset" over there. This man not only should not be CIA director but should be put on trial for causing the death of someone helping the CIA. Until we view leaks as synonymous with Premeditated murder we will keep loosing people needlessly. We have put up with this reckless behavior since the Philip Agee leaks all the way up to today. He also sided with Libya on the Benghazi issue stating he was comfortable with the fact that the Libyans let one of the terrorists go free. Brennan obviously has no problem with the death of Ambassador Stevens and the three other brave Americans who gave their lives fighting to save other Americans on location. Brennan also lied about the existence of current covert operations because the CIA has been complaining that they have been forced to stop doing covert OPS. Our absence is easily noticed by the fact that ALL the gains that we made under the Bush administration have been undone showing that we, meaning the CIA, are no longer on the ground.". Brennan also implied that the CIA has Black Sites here on American soil other than Guantanamo which is a complete lie. Today the CIA only has the NR on American soil which is where they get intelligence from Capitalists who VOLUNTEER on their own to help. This is a very friendly meeting. The Capitalist are clearly in the drivers seat so the CIA is not imposing on any one here. Brennan is clearly wrong because Henry A. Crumpton clearly disproves it in his book called The "Art Of Intelligence, Lessons from a life in the CIA's Clandestine Services."
4 more years of b.s.....agh..... America will never survive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
America's survival was never part of the plan.
So now your on the same side as the ACLU? lol lol lol lol
republicans defending the 911 terrorists, just to disrespect the president, lol priceless.
Not so much as the democrats ignoring the laws, just to support the president. Questioning his assumed authority is not disrespect.
its not CIA its CYA if your on the wrong side you will not be fairing to well as history also dictates. Live with a dick in your mouth or die as a traitor....huh...I would have to think about that one too I guess. We used to joke how much cash it would take to suck a dick I wonder if our politicians are being bribed, have a gun to their and their families heads or maybe those soulless @!$%#s just like dick for free...jury still out on that I choose the latter given our current situation they'd sell their moms down the river.
VLGil and Rick, Sadly you are both correct. Obama is Consolidating power. He promised Revenge against America about Three days before the election in 2012. Now he is delivering. People easily forget history, even near history. According to Allen W. Dulles, In his book " The Craft Of Intelligence", when Stalin died, Khrushchev had leading KGB people killed and promptly put people loyal to him in position. The same was true when Lenin died. Stalin replaced his people for people loyal to him. He quickly re-organized the KGB. Obama is using the same play book as Stalin and Khrushchev. It is standard Russian way of doing things to rid your self of all opposition in the Intelligence agencies. They must serve you(the Dictator) alone and No One else. Forget the nation it is supposed to serve, it is the dictator and getting ABSOLUTE POWER that matters. America will be lucky if there IS an election in 2016!!!
The radical Islamic regime in Iran likes Brennan. What does that say. It says they like the fact that Brennan is pro-jihadi and will work for the interests of Islamic extremism. He is a danger to America and to Americans.
Notice Obama surrounds himself with IRAN and Radical Islamist supporters and sympathizers. He doesn't even try and hide it.
These fat on our money never do anything right. Americans are screwed. Land of only Greed. Obama has no clue as usual. The light at the end of the tunnel this year is a train. Goodbye to all of us. That is the optimistic side. Teaparty time. Personally I have had enough!
The Tea Party extremists are DRIVING the train. They are unwilling to work with ANYBODY - including the moderates in the Republican party - to try to get our country on the right track. They want us to go down the tubes just like Greece is under the "starve the beast" model that DOES NOT WORK and is TOXIC. The Tea Party is what's wrong with the Republican party and is what is driving it into obscurity.
As an Independent, I voted an almost straight ticket last year (there was an Independent locally who I voted for) because there were NO Republicans that I could support on the ballot. It was maybe the second or third time since I started voting that I did NOT vote a split ticket between the two parties. The Tea Party's takeover of the Republican party has led to gridlock and nothing getting done because of their demands of ideological "purity" and take no prisoners and never compromise approach. That is NOT the way our government is supposed to work. It's supposed to be a meeting in the middle - ideas from this side AND that side combined in a compromise approach that takes into account the well being of ALL of our citizens. But the Tea Party is holding one side hostage while saying no to ANY form of compromise with the other. Because of this approach, the Republican party WILL go the way of the Whigs if they don't jettison that faction and tell them that they will no longer be held hostage to a bunch of screaming, immature, small-minded people who only care about making sure that THEY get 100% of their misguided ideological aims.
Is this your answer when someone asks why the Senate hasn't passed a budget resolution in four years? Or why Obama's budgets have received exactly zero votes?
No worries. They raised the limit on the credit card already. Charge it and fuggedaboutit! The great American pastime. Lolz!
Cat-1200657
The
Tea Partyleft wing extremists are DRIVING the train. They are unwilling to work with ANYBODY - including the moderates in theRepublicanDemocrat party ( blue dog coalition is dead and independents like Liberman gone) - to try to get our country on the right track. They want us to go down the tubes just like Greece is under the"starve the beast"model that DOES NOT WORK and is TOXIC, the same model Obama is promoting.................... It is much better like this.If it wasn't for scratch and insert you wouldn't have anything to say and it still comes out wrong.
Cat...your a fool you voted for Obama. You diluted the republican vote to guy who could not win. instead of the lesser of two evils your voted counted for the most evil. Your dumb sir stop watching the news. Your vomit is on channels 2,4,7,13 everyday. Educate yourself before you contribute more to ruining this nation.
Anyone find it amusing that the only people still talking about the Tea Party are obsessive nuts on the left? Give it a break Cat....Obama's driving this train, and he is responsible for where it goes.
Um, re-read the comment I responded to. "It's Tea Party time".
Hey Brennan, is it still a good idea to Give Egypt 20 F16s and 200 M1 Abrams Tanks? Wernt those on the Muslim Brotherhoods shopping list, as well as Iran's?? Arming the Enemy?
You still haven't got a clue who you Enamy is. It is not the Egyption Army. Egyptions are very much pro US.Man you definatly got to quit listening to the Trolls.
I think Starman still has a valid point. Similar to what developed nations did in the past for Pakistan and Iran. They were helped, and are now a threat. We should not be sending our arms anywhere.
Theatrics at its best.
Senators want National Security and will hold onto that notion and it will be more about the politics than the drones
Have the bonehead Congress forgot that al-Qaida operatives use very large drones ( American owned aircraft) to strike us severely on 9-11? We have every right to use any part of our arsenal to kill them since they are the ones that declare war on us. If drones keep our people out of harms way, lets use the hell out of them. I think one with a Gatling gun like Puff used in Nam would be the cats meow on killing their sorry asses.
What a bunch of BS!!!! The left was having a fit when there was wiretapping going on under President Bush! Now we can fly drones around and KILL AMERICANS and the left is ok with it?????? BS!!!!! Double Standards at their finest! You liberals, progressives (whatever you call yourselves these days) are MORONIC!!!!
We are at war with Al Qaeda. We kill people in war. Our President is going after the 9/11 attackers not Iraq. Will you ever wake up and support our country instead of a political party?
Grandpa, our legal system protects American's. When will you wake up and realize that Obama does not have unlimited powers? Also, just to be fair, I also opposed the wire tapping from the Bush admin. Wrong is wrong, regardless of your side. Get off the Democrat tit and start thinking for yourself.
I don't give a damn about their politics!!! The use of drones keeps our troops safer, as far as i can see, thats a good thing!!!! 9/11, they used huge drones, (our planes) to kill thousands of us, i say use more of them!!! As long as you kill them there, they will not be here, right?
Damn the torpedoes, send them the drones!!!
If any American turns their backs on America, and becomes a terrorist, kill the coc-suc-er!!!
[i know you from these boards for some time now.]
Really...your profile says you joined NewsVine on Dec 13, 2012...
Thats all fine and dandy as long as they keep them out of OUR COUNTRY! They can fly at 17k feet and see a pistol in your hand with you laying under a log in the woods in the middle of the night with the night vision / heat seeking technology they have on them now.
If Obama keeps on the path to cause civil unrest as he has been doing for going on 5 years now and succeeds, he can use the drones to pick off Americans from the sky like fish in a barrel! There is no where to hide from a drone but a hole in the ground or a building. We would be HELPLESS to defend ourselves against them.
THIS MANIAC NEEDS TO BE STOPPED!
So now that you are on the same side of this issue with the ACLU, how does it feel?
if you guys had read the paper, it clearly says in cases where they are "unattainable". that mens they gotta be hiding in Somalia or some other rat hole.
It's nice to see the right wing support the rights of terrorists. I wonder if Rush and Glen Beck will be sending letters of apology to the families of people like the underwear bomber. or the poor dead guys that crashed planes into the wtc. Talk about a 180 degree turn. Wow, republicans really are losing it. lmfao
This country is ruined the Liberal education system has finished it's dumbing down of your young ones.
Poor college grads think they are so smart yet they are retarded sheeple.
Brainwashed America Haters is what they are. They have been stripped of all the core values and morals that built this nation and made it great.
Just like the communist manifesto laid out as a prerequisite to taking over America 70 years ago said to do.
The sky is falling the sky is falling, lol. That dam socialist is ruining America, oh wait, the biggest indicator of capitalism has doubled since Bush. The sky is falling the sky is falling. this dam president is not respecting the rights of terrorists like bin landed. lol the Aclu and you, are really upset with him. lol
Crazy people do not know they are crazy. crazy people think everybody else is crazy. now read all the right wing posts and ask yourself............................ lmao
The problem is America is too big for it's britches. We have been doing all kinds of ego-maniacal, insane things like over-throwing other nations, killing anyone we think of as our enemy in any way we can. Then they arrest and incarcerate the snipers or soldiers that snap and think it's everyone. This is how they are training them. America was supposed to be different then the dictatorships of other countries, but it isn't. We just lie about it, which makes us worse. We do the worst things, then lie and cover-up to make us look so liberal and superior to others. America is judge, jury and executioner to anyone who they are paranoid against. No wonder some of these other countries are working so hard to get the weapons needed to stop us from this dangerous insanity. Look how they supposedly got BinLaden? Break into someones house because you "think" he is there. Kill unarmed family members and then supposedly shoot and kill an unarmed terrorist leader that you should have captured for more info from him, which is what I think they really did. Who does this? If any other country would be pulling stunts like this all over, they would stopped as we had to stop Hitlers regime not that many years ago. It's typical mafia behavior and was not supposed to be going on in America. Now we are all subdued with drugs and media propaganda while the government spins wildly out of control in all manner. There ought to be a law! I'm sorry there already is!
Well Carol. Did you graduate top of your class in "HATING AMERICA AND EVERYTHING IT EVER STOOD FOR!"?
If you could go back in time why dont you ask all those countries in Europe that where being tortured and imprisoned by Nazi Germany what they think of us Americans who are too big for their britches when we liberated them and sacrificed 1,076,245 young American lives doing it ?
Or ask the Koreans what they thought about us sacrificing 128,000 Americans dead and wounded to HELP them secure their freedom, what about South Korea and Vietnam? Another 100,000+ American lives to HELP other countries stay free.
America has sacrificed more blood and treasure than any other nation in the history of MANKIND in the name of FREEDOM!
You are the epitome of a COMMUNIST / PROGRESSIVE graduate of the U.S. communist universities in the country.
geeze Shovelface was just supporting terrorists in his previous posts, now he's anti-terror again. this is very confusing lol
It is very clear to me that republicans just hate America for it's freedom.
This is easily the most disorganized administration in America's history and continues to actually make previous poorly run ones look half intelligent.
Notice how MS/NBC hasn't rolled out the paid lead bloggers on this one.
I wonder how many of you have had to bury a military relative. Drones allow us not to have to send in our troops. If an American citizen decides to become a terrorist then we can decide to kill them. This terrorist could careless about American citizens so I could care less about them. If using drones saves the lives of our military troops then I am all for it. If other countries do not want to go after these terrorist yet they want us to support them, to hell with them. Either help us get these terrorist or don't ask for our support.
Well, it's all well and good but if you read the memo, it's a slippery slope... WHO decides WHO is a terrorist? How far up the chain is he/her? There are so many questions and no answers. They don't have to have concrete evidence that they are actually a "high" ranking member of "an organization" (it goes beyond just al-Qaida). What are the organizations (Hell, they way the dems talk, all Republicans could be a threat to America) The next one could be you...how do you know...who decides who is a threat to America, maybe ten years down the road? That little bit of information is in there too. You MIGHT become a threat. Better to take you out now. I'm all for taking out the bad guys and I would like to see all of the terrorists exterminated, but, this is beyond the pale giving Obama and this co-horts this kind of god like decision making on who lives and who dies. But then he a been given God Like qualities from the left.
Exactly.
And with that same ideology whats to keep Obama from deciding that U.S. citizens in America who bash / disagree with him are impeding his plan and he chooses to get with some hit squads here like the CIA / FBI and have us silently killed and make it look like a random robbery or car crash or natural gas leak etc?
Its much more than a slippery slope. There is a REASON WHY ITS UNCONSTITUTIONAL! Because it flies right in the face of FREEDOM!
your funny, when bush was prez he had his attorney gen. make up papers to say it was legal to put Americans in secret prisons. lol That's alot more likely then Obama sending a droid to Alabama to kill the kkk. Im thinking YOU are the paid bloggist from one of the right wing think tanks. (which is an oxymoron in itself lol). The guilty are always ready to point out the criminals and shift blame. hmmmmm
you guys always rant about "freedom". yet you want to take away the rights of women, you would put your own sister in jail for abortion, you want to force gay people to turn straight, you want to jail people for smoking weed. you simply want to control people through laws under the guise of MORALITY. and then tell me you are for freedom. the majority of this nation has figured you guys out, that's why they voted for a liberal black male instead of your lilly white conservative. congratulations, you are the minority now. politically speaking.
well sorry guys, gotta go, this liberal has a job to attend to.
No, they voted for a liberal black male because it was the "in" thing to do (and having a base of low information voters)....the side of history they said. This "black" man (remember, he is also white) only knows how to dictate......10 years from now, we'll see what side of "history" he is on. First "Black" president who become a dictator and destoyed America....What a legacy for the black community....
BTW didn't know libs had jobs....thought you guys were the 49% who us conservatives have to support!
Why do you libs keep comparing what Obama is doing to what Bush did? Both were wrong, period. But, stay focused here. Obama cannot ignore our legal system, and get support from his base to do so. How long until you are on the wrong side of the issue, and it is you that are the target, huh? Regardless of political affiliation, you should not be happy that our individual security is being taken away by these presidents, R or D. We need to start thinking as Americans again, not as R's or D's.
FOOLISH TALK /CONTROVERSY GINNED UP BY FOOLISH, UNTHINKING LIBERALS LIKE RACHEL MADDOW AND HER FRIEND ISISKOFF WHO HATES OBAMA AND IS ALWAYS LOOKING TO MAKE A NAME FOR HIMSELF TO REMAIN RELEVANT. What is an Amrican joins the enemy and is killed at the war front? Police officers make a decision daily to kill someone without due process. Wait until there is terrorism on American soil, and people would sit up or more conveniently blame Obama for it. The President is sworn to protect Americ--and if an American who has joined the enemy refuses to submit to arrest or due process, what is the President supposed to do? And don't forget that terrorits sometimes prefer to recruit disgruntled Americans to carry out some of their activities--abroad and inside America.
Just a few short steps away of becoming the dictator he dreams of......
All those liberal idiots in Washington have no idea what they are doing.
These are extraoridinary actions to deal with extraordinary circumstances-an undeclarable war where some Americans have enjoined themselves to our sworn enemies. This is a battlefield action not a police chase to catch criminals. Much like Lincoln's action to suspend Habeas Corpus without Congress in order to save the Union-it is an extraordinary action to stop those who desire to destroy our country or at the least do us great harm. Also, this is not comparable to waterboarding-the drone actions are battlefield actrions-waterboarding is dealing with prisoners of this undeclarable war. It is OK to question, be critical and to be concerned so that extraordinary actions do not become ordinary actions. Nevertheless people need to come down from their purist pedestals and live in the real world of dangers that require response while remaining vigilant against abuse.
Death by drone seems like a high price to pay.....if I am innocent and was not given the right to prove it.
Showdown?
What are they going to do to them if they find them grossly negligent or even flat out dangerous? The same thing the do all the others that are flat out refusing to enforce federal laws like Morton and Napolotano, Obama. Why even bother with these hearings if they do nothing about it?
Whats if for? To make us think they are doing something about it?
We also need to regard with scorn all those conservative voices whose policies are a real threat to civil liberties as they gin up their always bogus criticism of this President.
AMEN!
You are an idiot. There is no bogus criticism. If you feel your civil liberties are under threat look no further than BHO, Reid and Polosi.
George <========Agrees with grandpa and terry
And, what exactly are those threats or bogus claims, Terry? You sound like a high school cheer leader...a whole lot of rah, rah, rah, but not much substance.
I wonder what GWH would do?
Whatever GW might do, one thing is for certain ~ ~ we wouldn't be hearing a peep out of Graham, McCain, or Ayotte. References are being made to "transparency." There is nothing more transparent than the dust-up being created primarily by Graham ~ even the least politically astute individual can see right through it.
Parents who bring their kids to terrorist countries to become traitors against the United States while overseas, are responsible for their own kids, whether American or not. That is a risk they are willing to taker, so they know they can be killed.
I wish congress would stop trying to run the war on terrorism, when they can' even manage themselves from their failed policies for laws they pass to hurt and ruin our economy in this country.
Panetta is exactly right. Congress needs to take heed of his addvice, and listen to the American people who voted this Presdident into office.
I hate to see Michelle Bachman on that intellegence committee, because she is one of the biggest mouths in the House who has already leaked confidential materials. This goes to show Boehner has very poor judgement on those who sit on those committees.
I hope Brennan gets his nomination passed.
Its just a matter of time. He will be forced to resign. Another bad apple. The Socialost party.
With all due respect to the US Senate and the House of Representatives, where in the hell were you guys when Bush, Rumsfeld, Tenet, and Cheney created the lies of the century? You know, "Iraq has WMD's" and "Iraq supported the 9-11 Attacks". Seems to me that you guys have a wee bit of selective amnesia. By the way, every member of the Intelligence Committee had to know about "Water Boarding". Now you want to move American Voters off "Gun Control" and onto "Drone Control". What a bunch of hypocrites!
I see that you ignore Obama's lies regarding no taxes on those makinig less than 200k. You also ignored Pelosi's lies regarding knowing about water boarding and her direct involvement and approval of the tactic. They all lie.
If you lay down with dogs, you will get some fleas.
If you assoicate with al-Queda, you may get funked-up by a drone.
Are you calling Michelle a dog, or saying that the prez has fleas......
Terry, bogus critcism?? Please enlighten us as to what is bogus. More unemployment, not bogus. Higher taxes, not bogus. Desimation of the 2nd amendment, not bogus. Killing of americans, not bogus. Higher healthcare costs, not bogus. SO come on, show me what is bogus!!