Sunday, May 8, 2011

Obama Leaves the Seals Hanging - Legally Speaking

If you need a lawyer, you're on your own.

I previously posted on my unease over the subsequent handling of the bin Laden killing. In the comments, Dean said
The only aftermath bit that kind of bothers me is Panetta saying it was the SEALs' decision on whether or not to kill bin Laden. What? I'm calling bullshit.
This is indeed a problem for the administration. They are opening themselves and the SEALs to potential legal action. Volokh.com, as usual, has sound insight.
This was an armed lethal attack upon a a criminal adversary of the United States in an armed conflict, without cavil or apology. They were sent to attack and kill him as someone who was targetable with lethal force and no warning at any time. Which, as explanations go, and at least as it appears at this moment, does have the virtue of being true, as well as legally sound.

The NGOs and advocates and activist-academics have an instinctive sense for exploitable weakness and go after it; after all it’s part of their job. Brennan (as well as later spokespeople, including Holder) was not direct in stating that of course it was legal to target OBL, legal to target with lethal force, legal to target without warning or invitation to surrender, and that has always been the US legal position.
. . .
Firing on a lawful target, even an unarmed one and even when one knows a human target is unarmed, is not unlawful — that is what potentially happens when one drops a bomb, after all. Refusing to grant quarter or refusing to grant surrender, on the other hand, is a serious war crime
.
But if the administration takes the position that this was a kill OR capture mission, the SEALs are now in a tough spot, having to prove that bin Laden "resisted arrest." This is crap. He was a legitimate military target, shooting him on sight is a legitimate order in time of war. But of course, the Commander-in-Chief should be the one making this argument, not a bunch of bloggers.

4 comments:

  1. This has been my worry since day one. Will some trumped up international court or tribunal take the work of Osama's wives over our Seals? Will we let that happen? Don't trust this administration, never will.

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  2. It seems like the TEA partiers are really going to make the break with reality on the whole "War on Terror". Do you people realize what it is happening here. This whole Bin Laden/Al Qaeda is psychological warfare against the American People designed to weaken and confuse us so that the New World Order Banking Cartel can impose absolute despotism and total control over the whole world through centralization of every man and woman's identification into their centralized databases ALL with YOUR CONSENT. Do you understand this fact? It is totally obvious once you fully comprehend who these people are where they come from and magnitude of power they posses by maintaining control and distribution of of currency.

    Do you realize that the entire Bin Laden/Al Qaeda Fairy tale is a war on your mind that has been driven into the public's mind by mass media who were created and are controlled by the same families who established the Federal Reserve Bank? Do you not know the story of the farming and industries that were gobbled up by these same families in the banker contrived great depression that was the transition point from the US Notes to Federal Notes? Do you not realize tha these bankers killed Kennedy in order to stop him from eliminaring the fantasy debt created bythe Federal Reserve and that these same banker families have taken control of the executive branch of the United States and have had usin continual warfare since the Federal Reserve's beginning. America's History has been a constant struggle to free ourselves from the chains of their debt bondage and the last 100 years of that story has been one of a long train of abuses and usurpations by these Money Changers. You seem to not realize the real danger to our security and you seem to insist on getting caught up in their propoganda machine. Snap out of it! You are under attack by Globalist bankers seeking to control your very existence by controlling your id and forcing you to have id just to move around. Once they have the power to control your movements via identification that they created and control they will have the power to seize you with brainwashed soldiers of destruction who simply do what the database tells them to do; you know the "I was only doing what I was told to do" idiots who can't think for or support themselves so they go work for a criminal gang who forces everyone else to pay them. They want to control your identification so they can make anyone a criminal at anytime with a simple database entry. This is the REAL war against you and you seem to be clueless of these facts.

    If you let this mechanism of divide and conquer take over your mind then you will be disstracted from the real enemies moves against you and you will be confused into destroying your own freedom.

    You are totally brainwashed by this system if you believe this Bin Laden/Al Qaeda crap. The world is much more complicated then the enemy being Muslim Jihadist that want to kill you because they hate your freedom. This is insane to believe that the world is this simple. This entire fantasy is fed to you by major media outlets with an agenda that is handed to them and you seem to gobble it right up without thorough examinations of who the people are who publicly take this line.

    The television and media gaggle has taken control of your mind and you are not seeing the confusion intentionally created in order usurp the power of We the People of the United States and our Liberty. I hope you wake up soon...

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  3. Yup, still an idiot in need of water-boarding! I'm sure these conspirators will be in charge of he upcoming zombie apocalypse. Wow, I don't get to check in often, but anon doesn't disappoint.

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  4. Anonymous,
    The world is not that simple, never said it was. Part of bin Laden's planning was to make his organization more powerful by attacking the perceived enemies of Islam; America is a convenient target.
    Further, I support the transparency needed to expose whatever misdeeds might be perpetrated by the Federal Reserve, though since I lack evidence, I make no accusations. Sunshine is the best disinfectant. We are making progress.
    However, your lengthy posts don't help your cause, you make assertions without citing evidence.
    Thank you for reading and commenting. I look forward to hearing from you again. One more suggestion would be to obtain an online alias if you wish to protect your anonymity, that way you could comment anonymously but ensure that your train of comments had an identity.

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