A Mockery of Citizenship

I have never envisioned myself being in a position to be even slightly in agreement with the Obama Administration on any issue. Picking up the newspaper this morning, I found myself in a bit of a dither in that, there on the front page, was an issue on which we did agree. Now, before you label me an Obama man, hear me out as you may want to get on the band wagon yourself.

It seems there are those in legal circles now who are questioning the motives of the Obama Administration in giving the okay through the National Security Council to add radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki to their terrorist kill list. It seems Cleric al-Awlaki is a born citizen of the United States. On the surface, I have to agree that it looks bad that the CIA might be interested in killing citizens of our own country. On the other hand, when one looks at the details, they just might decide that the CIA has the best interest of the citizens of the good old USA in mind.

The United States declared war on terror after the terrorist attacks on America that occurred on 9-11. Essentially, this country is at war with anyone or anything that elects to be involved in activities that perpetrate terrorist activities, attacks, or the potential harm to the people of America. If that is news to anyone, I have to ask you where you have been for the past few years.

Cleric al-Awlaki is a citizen of the United States having been born in the state of New Mexico. For whatever reason, the cleric no longer resides in the United States choosing instead to hid in Yemen. On top of that, he has openly stated that it is his religious duty to attack the United States. The CIA has apparently collected enough information to be convinced that he has engaged in actively plotting more than a dozen terrorist activities in the West.

The fact that al-Awlaki is a citizen of the USA by birth is a convenient blanket under which he hides. The CIA cannot so much as monitor his cell phone calls without a warrant to do so thanks to laws enact by our Congress. Now the question arises whether Congress should take action on protecting the life of this man because he, in effect, is a citizen of the USA, and, since he is residing in Yemen, he is far from any designated combat zone and therefore not a participant in this war.

Now, I have to ask you ‘what is it with that?’ American citizens have rights and are entitled to protection under the Constitution. American citizens, the real kind, also have responsibilities, one of which, is not standing up and publicly announcing that you have a religious duty to wage attacks upon the United States. In my way of thinking, that just might border on a confession of treason to say the least, a crime which is also punishable by death. Thus, it would appear that this radical cleric has more or less made a public confession of his intent to harm the United States in any way he can guided and driven by his fanatic religious beliefs. Responsible citizens of the United States do not make such threats and thus have nothing to fear. If indeed this so-called religious leader is a citizen of the United States, then perhaps he would like to return to his native land and enjoy all the protections to which he is accustomed under the Constitution.

This man is not a citizen of the United States except by technicality. He gave up those rights when he elected to take up arms against this country. He declared himself an active participant in this war. He essentially painted a target on himself. Now it’s a damn good thing that our fighting men in the U S military are not all lawyers because a hell of a lot of them would be lying dead on the battlefield right now. In the heat of battle there is no time to pause and wonder whether the person shooting at you has Constitutional Rights as a citizen of the United States. The fact of the matter is he is engaged in actively trying to kill citizens of the United States and for that he forfeits his so-called rights.

This is not a man of religion, not in any sense of the word in terms of the civilized world. This a is fanatic who is such a coward that he has to hide behind his rights as a U S citizen and slither around the countryside of Yemen spewing his venomous hatred of the American people in order to inflame the fanatical Islam crowd into declaring yet another Jihad. This is no citizen. This is a dead man and the sooner he is dead the better off the world will be. If you choose to be on the other side of that discussion, you can join the likes of Cindy Sheehan, Daniel Ellsberg, and Ed Asner…you’ll be in good company.

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