Memo on Drone Killings of US Citizens Makes Case for Presidential Dictatorship
By Barry Grey
Global Research
June 24, 2014
The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Monday released a redacted version of the hitherto secret Obama administration memo arguing for the legality of presidential assassinations, without charges or trial, of US citizens. The 47-page memo, dating from July 2010, was drafted and signed by then head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, David Barron, and addressed to Attorney General Eric Holder.
The memo constitutes prima facie evidence of crimes against international law, the US Constitution, and the democratic rights of the American people. It could serve as a key exhibit in impeachment proceedings and criminal prosecutions against high-level American officials, beginning with President Barack Obama, Attorney General Holder, US intelligence and military leaders and the author of the memo, Barron.
The document is a travesty of legal and constitutional analysis. It begins with the desired aim—to justify the negation of the Bill of Rights’ guarantee of “due process” and sanction the arrogation of quasidictatorial powers by the executive branch—and employs a grab bag of sophistic and cynical arguments to arrive at the desired conclusion.
The memo was written specifically to provide legal cover for the state murder of Anwar al-Awlaki, a New Mexico-born US citizen and Muslim cleric. He was branded an “operational leader” of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and assassinated by a drone-fired missile in Yemen on September 30, 2011. Three others were killed in the attack, including a second US citizen, Samir Khan.
One month later, another drone strike in Yemen ordered by Obama and his military/intelligence accomplices killed Awlaki’s 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, along with six other people. The US government has acknowledged terminating a fourth US citizen in its campaign of drone killings, which have killed many thousands in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and other countries.
The context in which the memo was released underscores the wholesale repudiation of the US Constitution and democratic rights by the political establishment. The New York-based Second Circuit ruled in April in support of a lawsuit filed by the New York Times and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) under Freedom of Information laws demanding the publication of the Barron memo, which the administration had refused to provide.
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