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His NSS aside, Obama plans more war on the world than George Bush, putting a lie to his campaign promise to withdraw Iraq troops by August 2010 and begin exiting Afghanistan by July 2011. Earlier as an Illinois State Senator, he delivered an October 2002 anti-war speech, saying:
"....we ought not....travel down that hellish path blindly. Nor should we allow those who would march off and pay the ultimate sacrifice, who would prove the full measure of devotion with their blood, to make such an awful sacrifice in vain."
As president, he's waging war on the world, including Americans globally, suspected of terrorism. Explaining it, former National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair told Congress last February that Obama authorized "direct actions against terrorists," including assassinating uncharged Americans innocent of any crime, in clear violation of the law.
Law Professor Jonathan Turley cites the "Annex to the Hague Convention Number IV, Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land" with a provision stating:
"In addition to the prohibitions provided by special Conventions, it is especially forbidden....to kill or wound treacherous individuals belonging to the hostile nation or army...."
Though vague, the Pentagon interprets it as "prohibiting assassination, proscription, or outlawry of an enemy, or putting a price upon an enemy's head, as well as offering a reward for an enemy 'dead or alive.' " In other words, combatants can be targeted on the battlefield, not civilians, precisely what other international law states, Turley citing the rights of US citizens, affirmed both in law and:
"in cases like Reid v. Covert, 354 US 1 (1957), American citizens have the same protections regardless of whether they are within or outside of the country."
The decision referred to two American women who killed their husbands on US military bases abroad, given the same Fifth Amendment and other constitutional protections they'd get at home. Turley asked: "If a president can kill US citizens abroad, why not within the United States?" What's to stop him, and what do policy statements mean if he can do as he pleases by executive order, other edicts, or verbal commands to subordinates.
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