While much of the media has focused on the recent violence in Paris, Georgia, and San Bernardino, as well as the escalating conflicts in Iraq and Syria, another profound and troubling domestic issue seems to have been overlooked.
Indeed, the issue at hand was first reported on November 24th — and covered for roughly a day — before it was quickly forgotten in the daily barrage of news stories. But we should not be so quick to dismiss the possibility of a future president (maybe one with fascist leanings?) choosing to exercise “targeted killings” against the American public. This practice, of course, is embodied by the Obama administration’s program of assassinating individuals suspected of terrorism, also known as the “disposition matrix.”
The Washington Post first reported on the disposition matrix in 2012:
Over the past two years, the Obama administration has been secretly developing a new blueprint for pursuing terrorists, a next-generation targeting list called the ‘disposition matrix.’
The matrix contains the names of terrorism suspects arrayed against an accounting of the resources being marshaled to track them down, including sealed indictments and clandestine operations. U.S. officials said the database is designed to go beyond existing kill lists, mapping plans for the ‘disposition’ of suspects beyond the reach of American drones.
Although the matrix is a work in progress, the effort to create it reflects a reality setting in among the nation’s counterterrorism ranks: The United States’ conventional wars are winding down, but the government expects to continue adding names to kill or capture lists for years.
For the last four years, New York Times journalist Charlie Savage has waged a legal battle against the Obama administration, seeking to reveal the government’s legal justifications for assassinating terror suspects without a trial. Specifically, Savage sued the Obama administration in an attempt to obtain details about the murder of al-Qaeda affiliated cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki. Al-Awlaki was born in New Mexico and eventually found himself on the U.S. government’s radar under suspicion of terrorism.
On September 30, 2011, drones sent by the CIA and Joint Special Operations Command flew into Yemen and bombed al-Awlaki and al-Qaeda propagandist, Samir Khan. The case drew public criticism not only because al-Awlaki was an American citizen, but because several weeks after his death, another American drone killed al-Awlaki’s 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman. He was also a U.S. citizen living in Yemen.
A 2014 ruling by Second Circuit court forced the release of a memorandum from the Office of Legal Counsel. The New York Times and the American Civil Liberties Union fought for the release of 11 other OLC memos, but the court protected 10 of them from release. The Times and the ACLU appealed the decision, but a three-judge panel from the Second Circuit denied the release of the documents.
“This appeal, like the prior one, primarily concerns whether documents considering such lawfulness must be disclosed,” Judge Jon Newman wrote for the panel.
“We strongly disagree that these crucial legal memos can lawfully be kept secret. In a democracy, there should be no room for ‘secret law,’ and the courts should not play a role in perpetuating it,” Jameel Jaffer, Executive Director of the ACLU, told Courthouse News.
The ACLU also stated the decision “[would] not be the last word in the ACLU’s quest for transparency surrounding the government’s targeted killing program.”
According to the ACLU, “of more than 500 credibly reported strikes, only nine have been acknowledged on the record. Of more than 4,800 credibly reported deaths, only 11 have been acknowledged by the government. We don’t know how many individuals are on a government ‘kill list.’”
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There is a real possibility that an American president could use this program on American soil to eliminate individuals who have been deemed “terrorists” or “extremists.” While some may scoff at the notion, there are Americans who currently support curbing civil liberties and human rights for groups of people who hold certain religious — and even political — beliefs. This is all driven by fear, nationalism, and xenophobia, which the media and political pundits are more than happy to exploit.
If the free people of this land wish to expose the tyrants and psychopaths in the American government, they should start by reducing their reliance on the institutions they oppose. Remove yourself from this crumbling empire and all its machinations. Keep fighting to shine light into darkness and expose government secrecy. In the end, truth always wins.
This article (Court: Obama Can Continue Assassination Program in Secret, Even Against Americans) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Derrick Broze and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, email edits@theantimedia.org.
Courts are simply another part of the de facto unlawful rather than de jure lawful, Federal Government. That was the purpose of the Civil War, to establish an unlawful government and enslave everyone.
Hope you weren’t under the impression that things would get better just because you decided to prepare… They are coming for every last citizen of the world, period. It is the continued use of the systems and creations which give them power, best to find a way to not be counted as a citizen of the world.
America! R.I.P. Wonder what the new name of this land is going to be called after they round up those who won’t submit to the tyranny?
It’ll get named after the last one to die.
FEMA camps, billions of rounds of hollow point ammo on hand for Home Land for any uprising the USG even suspects. The cover-up of 9-11 treason and the prior written Patriot act and degrade of the US Constitution and Bill of Rights told me not to be surprised about anything the US Federal super Mafia does next.
They won’t ever chance doing a round up because it will call their bluff as paper tigers.
The only reason they have an edge right now is because the average american believes the BS they are pumping out through their propaganda machines called MSM, ( and even in some of the alternate news)
90% of what you see and read is contrived.
Should they come knocking on your door, you may safely assume they are there to kill you and may preemptively kill first in accordance with the Castle Laws of many states. Those of you without Castle Laws may kill first anyways.
Let’s keep it all in perspective.
If Obama was actively pursuing terrorists, the job would be already finished-but he is not, he will eliminate an American before he does a muslim, especially a Sunni because he went to school in Indonesia which is predominately Sunni, his father was a Sunni and that makes Obama a Sunni because in muslim culture whatever a father is, so is the son. No wonder he ran Ghadfi and Mubarak out of office, they were both Shiites as is Assad who he wants out of Syria in the worst way, so badly that he will anger Russia in the process and a war might ensue if Obama continues angering Putin.
The real irony is that they average American is still following the law when their leaders violate it every passing day.
True that!!
at gunpoint though. the masses will blindly follow till their slaughter thanking for it.
If the laws do not apply EQUALLY to EVERYONE, then they are NO GOOD for ANYONE.
This is merely lawlessness practiced by the court, as it attacks the very reason for the useless imbeciles to even exist, that is to protect individual liberty.
Obama wants war with IS, which is not an state, to justify martial law and the suspension of civil liberties.
“Do not be content with showing friendship in words alone, let your heart burn with loving kindness for all who may cross your path.”
John 10:
9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
14 I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep..
Mark12:
28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”