lol well whoever supports this presidential action should never complain again whenever police officers conduct illegal searches and seizures and confiscate your property and arrest you for your personal beliefs and speech
But the whole operative term is "citizen" is it not? I you're no longer a citizen how can you be protected as such? He conspired to have foreigners commit acts of terrorism in this country and abetted those efforts -- which makes him an "enemy combatant," for the lack of a better term. It would be different if a member of the U.S. military passed classified info. onto the enemy, or a scientist smuggled secret technology to another country. These people would get due process and stand trial, fairly. See the difference?
Many German-American citizens left the U.S. to fight for Hitler against America during WWII. Did we try and sort out which ones were American citizens in the middle of battle, or make an effort to go behind enemy lines and "arrest" the traitors and send them home for trial? Hell, no! For two reasons: 1) It wasn't practical. 2) Those Germans stopped being citizens the moment they took up arms for a foreign country against America. The German-Americans who sided with Hitler freely chose their path and, by default, accepted the consequences: death on the field of battle, or risk being captured, tried and executed by the U.S. military -- not under the Constitution, but under the articles of war.
Al-Awlaki by default gave up his citizenship when he joined a foreign crusade/jihad/war against this country. Once you renounce your citizenship and join a foreign force, you CANNOT expect to be protected by the very same Constitution you turned your back on. He was an enemy commander and we took him out like one. Period.
lol well whoever supports this presidential action should never complain again whenever police officers conduct illegal searches and seizures and confiscate your property and arrest you for your personal beliefs and speech
you can't just make up the rules
http://politics.salon.com/2011/10/03/awlaki_7/singleton/[/B][/I]
On January 22, 2009, Forbes named Greenwald one of the "25 Most Influential Liberals in the U.S. Media".
An interesting and ironic choice of words. :kettle: So you're quoting other people's opinions to defend your position? Jesus Christ, you people will never, ever learn, will you?So what exactly makes Glenn Greenwald's opinions the end-all-be-all? In that piece you cite, he voices his opinion and carefully selects "facts" out of context to back up his claims and ignoring everything else that's contrary. It's intellectually dishonest.
In short, he's giving his opinion and he's just plain wrong. Worse, he's not even objective. Since we're gonna play this little game of throwing around baseless bullshit quotes and links, strap this one on:
Bleeding heart liberals refuse to shed blood NO MATTER the circumstance. Greenwald has no fucking credibilty in this issue. Nice try.![]()
You really are obtuse, aren't you? emceeemcee didn't cite that article because of what some idiot liberal columnist said in it. He cited it because of the what a U.S. State Department spokeswoman said in it when she quoted Federal Law.
Um, yes he did.
Your ad hominem attack doesn't change the fact that Obama knew he was breaking the law when he ordered the attack, ordered the attack anyway, and now is manipulating the blind emotionalism of you and every other person who can't see past their gut reaction in this situation in order to pathetically defend what was a blatantly unconstitutional and illegal action by his administration. You're being played like a fiddle and you don't even care about it because a bad man went *boom*.
Nuland said she asked State Department lawyers whether the government can revoke a person’s citizenship based on their affiliation with a foreign terrorist group, and it turned out there’s no law on the books authorizing officials to do so.
There's a gigantic difference between being stripped of your citizenship and giving it up of your own volition. WE didn't revoke it, HE gave it up. See the fucking nuance, here. Just exactly what is it that you DON'T UNDERSTAND? Perhaps I can draw you a picture. And you have the gall to call me obtuse!? Arrogant puke. Al-Alwaki by default renounced his claim to his rights as a U.S. citizen. One cannot wage war against his own country and still expect to be protected by its laws. The quote you refer to (which, BTW, was taken out of context by that hack liberal Greenwald d-bag) only addresses the revocation of citizenship.
A person who is a national of the United States whether by birth or naturalization, shall lose his nationality by voluntarily performing any of the following acts with the intention of relinquishing United States nationality—
...
(7) committing any act of treason against, or attempting by force to overthrow, or bearing arms against, the United States, violating or conspiring to violate any of the provisions of section 2383 of title 18, or willfully performing any act in violation of section 2385 of title 18, or violating section 2384 of title 18 by engaging in a conspiracy to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, if and when he is convicted thereof by a court martial or by a court of competent jurisdiction.
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/8/1481.html
A person cannot give up his citizenship "by default." He can renounce it by:
1. formally declaring his citizenship in another state (Awlaki's citizenship with Yemen was by birth, not formal declaration, which was why he - and many other Americans - were allowed dual-citizenship)
2. joining the armed forces or government of a foreign state (Awlaki may have been a member of Al-Qaeda, but they are an international organization, not a foreign state) Splitting a very fine hair. You must be a lawyer.
3. by formally renouncing his citizenship, verbally or in writing (he didn't) Hmmm, didn't he? DIDN'T HE?
4. or by being convicted of treason (not presumed guilty without trial).
In short, your premise that Awlaki could somehow have been "automatically" no longer a citizen does not agree with U.S. Federal Law.
Cindy and Trident reminding us why it's pointless engaging with the what passes for a modern conservative....
you'd get more reason out of a cucumber
2. joining the armed forces or government of a foreign state (Awlaki may have been a member of Al-Qaeda, but they are an international organization, not a foreign state) Splitting a very fine hair. You must be a lawyer.
3. by formally renouncing his citizenship, verbally or in writing (he didn't) Hmmm, didn't he? DIDN'T HE?
Its all about saving some money...a bullet is way cheaper than a lawyer.
This coming from the asswipe with the typo in his post![]()
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Not so fine a hair as you suggest. The difference between an international organization and a foreign state is massive. A foreign state has geographic boundaries, central leadership, formal membership, and recognition as a state by the international community. Al-Qaeda has NO geographic boundaries, NO central leadership, NO formal membership, and NO recognition as a state by anyone. In short, Al-Qaeda has NONE of the characteristics of a foreign state.
And the distinction is important. When a person declares allegiance to a foreign state they promise to protect and defend a specific, visible parcel of land and a specific, visible group of fellow citizens. When a person declares allegiance to an international organization, they promise to protect and defend an ideology. And ideas are neither specific, nor are they visible. You can't deport someone to an ideology. You can't go to the capital of an ideology. You can't, really, even negotiate with the leadership of an ideology, because each person has their own specific interpretation and execution of the ideas inherent to the ideology. They are each their own leadership.
Now, you may say that this law should be changed and that subscription to a terrorist ideology should be grounds for renouncing one's citizenship. That's a whole can of worms I'd rather not open (especially with the current imbeciles in Congress), but its plausible and valid in it's own way. Write your Congressmen. Until then, I expect the President of the United States to uphold the standing laws of this land. And in Awlaki's case, he clearly didn't.
Um... no, he didn't. Certainly not formally (the statute specifies that the written renunciation needs to be sent to the U.S. Attorney General and the verbal renunciation needs to be before a U.S. diplomatic or consular officer). But even informally, as far as I'm aware, Awlaki NEVER stated in any of his videos or writings that he no longer wished to be a U.S. citizen. You are welcome to correct me on this point with evidence to the contrary if it exists.
It was 4am when I wrote that.
What's your excuse?
emceemee will always mourn these terrorists, it is a waste of time debating with him. I have seen enough of how he responded in debates, so what I see here doesn't astonish me at all
emceemee will always mourn these terrorists, it is a waste of time debating with him. I have seen enough of how he responded in debates, so what I see here doesn't astonish me at all