To the Editor:
In discussing the Obama administration’s decision to authorize the
killing of Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born cleric who is hiding in
Yemen, you say that he is “arguably protected” by the Fifth Amendment,
which provides that the government shall not deprive a citizen of life,
liberty or property without due process of law (“A
Legal Debate as C.I.A. Stalks a U.S. Jihadist,” front page, May
14).
There is nothing arguable about it. Mr. Awlaki was born in New Mexico.
He is therefore a United States citizen. To say the legal issue is
“arguable” is to say there is legitimate doubt as to whether the
Constitution prohibits the government from executing citizens who are
living outside the United States on the sole basis that the president
believes the killing would make the nation more secure.
No matter how incendiary Mr. Awlaki’s rhetoric is, he is not holding a
weapon. Targeting him for killing is a lawless act, and the Constitution
forbids it.
David R. Dow
Houston, May 14, 2010
The writer is a professor at the University of Houston Law Center.
Note from KBJ: Imagine the vitriol if George W. Bush were still president. Why are progressives so gentle with President Obama? Is it racism? Racism consists in employing a double standard when there is no relevant difference between the cases at hand. Note that, according to this understanding, it is as racist to go easy on a black person (simply because he or she is black) as it is to go hard.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 