It’s not unreasonable to ask a few questions about President Obama authorizing a drone strike that killed American-born Al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen on Sept.30. Congressman Ron Paul thinks it might be an impeachable offense and several others, including MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, have asked if the targeted killing of an American citizen by the United States is legal.
The legal questions should be left to judges and lawyers. No one should pretend to actually know if President Obama violated al-Awlaki’s Constitutional rights – if he still had any. Instead, we ought to focus on a much more pressing issue: Should we be worried President Obama might decide to kill us?
Politico’s Roger Simon reports President Obama has launched 227 drone attacks in Pakistan alone since he took office, and those attacks have killed at least 1,500 – not to mention the other assaults in places like Yemen. To our knowledge, no one killed was an American until last Friday.
Did the president’s decision to cross the citizenship threshold threaten the individual safety of other American citizens? Some people think this might open the door to targeted political assassinations beyond terrorists and into a world that could include journalists and others.
Should you worry that President Obama might wake up tomorrow and decide to kill you without a trial? Probably not.
First of all, the president set a pretty high threshold for an attack on an American citizen. Al-Awlaki was overseas plotting the death of American citizens. Granted, the president didn’t haul him before a court to prove he was doing it, but the point stands.
The president set a precedent where he can kill you if he believes you’re a danger to the country, has no expectation of capturing you successfully and time is a factor. That might not fill you with confidence, but those are some pretty rare conditions.
It’s not a slippery slope, it’s a gentle hill covered with rocks.
We’re not going to tumble into personal vendetta killings.
Another reason we shouldn’t worry about the president killing us is he and the American system have an interest in proving their case and making an example out of bad people. It serves the interest of the country to capture a terrorist or other dangerous people to show our system is equipped to handle the most difficult of circumstances.
There is also a public relations war to be won. The president doesn’t want to indiscriminately kill American citizens because it would be terrible politics. You’ve got to be able to sell why you called for the hit or the hit isn’t worth it.
Finally, the most important reason we shouldn’t worry about President Obama sending a drone to our neighborhood is it is a monumentally expensive way to handle problems.
You would have to be a serious threat to the country – or even a very significant political threat if we’re going to buy into the Orwellian nightmare scenario – if the president is going to call on sophisticated military technology to end your life. It’s way cheaper to get an arrest warrant and send a black-and-white to pick you up.
It’s not cost-effective to target people who are of low value with that kind of assault, and let’s face it – even in a nightmare scenario, none of the most troublesome political opponents are strong enough to get a Predator Drone sent to their house.
So while we ought to leave the legal technicalities about whether or not he was allowed to kill al-Awlaki to the professionals, I would like to assure you the president has no plans to kill you.
He set a high threshold, has no interest in hauling you off in chains and isn’t going to waste precious resources on little old you. Even if you think you’re the biggest threat to the
“establishment” since baggy jeans, you’re not worth it.
Is the president allowed to kill you? Maybe. Should you be worried that he’s going to? Not a chance.