Intelligence chief acknowledges U.S. may target Americans involved in terrorism
By Ellen Nakashima
Washington Post
Thursday, February 4, 2010Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair acknowledged Wednesday that government agencies may kill U.S. citizens abroad who are involved in terrorist activities if they are “taking action that threatens Americans.”
Blair told members of the House intelligence committee that he was speaking publicly about the issue to reassure Americans that intelligence agencies and the Department of Defense “follow a set of defined policy and legal procedures that are very carefully observed” in the use of lethal force against U.S. citizens.
Blair’s unusually frank remarks come as the issue of targeting Americans for lethal action has attracted more notice. As the United States steps up its campaign against suspected terrorists overseas, it has become more apparent that some extremists may be U.S. citizens.
The most prominent case to date is that of a U.S.-born cleric, Anwar al-Aulaqi, who lives in Yemen and has been linked to the Army major who allegedly shot and killed 13people at Fort Hood, Tex., in November, and to the Nigerian accused of attempting to bomb a Northwest Airlines plane on Christmas Day.
Aulaqi is a member of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, an affiliate of the main al-Qaeda organization, and has been linked to the Fort Hood shooter as well as the Nigerian. He was thought to be meeting with regional al-Qaeda leaders at a compound in Yemen targeted by a Dec. 24 strike. He was not said to be the focus of the strike, and he was not killed. But U.S. officials said at the time that they thought he might have been killed.
“I just don’t want Americans who are watching this to think that we are careless about endangering — in fact, we’re not careless about endangering American lives as we try to carry out the policies to protect most of the country,” Blair said at the annual threat briefing before the panel. He did not specifically refer to the targeting of Aulaqi.
In response to questions from Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.), the panel’s ranking Republican, Blair said: “We take direct action against terrorists in the intelligence community. If that direct action, we think that direct action will involve killing an American, we get specific permission to do that.”
Hoekstra pressed for clarification of the policy, especially its threshold for targeting Americans for lethal action.
“The concern that I have today is that I’m not sure that . . . [it is] very well understood as to what you and the people in your organization can do when it comes to Americans who have joined the enemy,” Hoekstra told Blair.
The director of national intelligence said the factors that “primarily” weigh on the decision to target an American include “whether that American is involved in a group that is trying to attack us, whether that American is a threat to other Americans.”
Unlike the Pentagon’s whitewash of the Islamic factor in the Fort Hood attack, finally some of our leaders show some spine and I completely agree with this policy. If an American citizen joins up with an Islamic terrorist group, such has al Qaeda, or Hamas, they deserve to be killed, and if they are captured they should be charged with treason.
Maybe we should try to find Zensters hit-list on Gates of Vienna and send it to Dennis Blair. He suggested that all major islamic leaders and hate preachers should be taken out completely. People who has been forced to fight with gangs of muslim thugs has noticed that taking out the alfamale first results in either sending the rest of the pack running with their tails between the legs or gives them enough time to escape themselves.
Who is Zenster?
He's a frequent commenter over at GoV.
Thanks RS.
Robin, I pray that every infidel kafir develops the same sense of cold-blooded aggression & strategic planning with regard to the mohammedan problem as Zenster………… He thinks like a true mind-warrior………… We need people like him………….
"as to what you and the people in your organization can do when it comes to Americans who have joined the enemy,"
I won't ask and they need not tell. Just 'get r dun'.
My understanding, as an immigrant US Citizen, is that when/if you join another country's armed forces or take any official government job in another country, you can and should loose your US Citizenship. This does not even involve an enemy country. For instance, I, as a former Brit, go back to Britain and join their forces, they do not then have to let me bak in to the US. This is made very clear to you when you become an American. You 'foreswear all allegiance to any foreign principality and power.'
This is American law. Like it or not, this is the price you agree to pay when you come here to America. (Unless you are just on a green card or other visa, of course.) If you are native born American, the same law applies.
So if you go to Yemen and join the enemy, you are legally not an American any more! I think that would apply to Fort Hood types too, here in the US, but will they ever make that connection?
Thanks for sharing that mate. What is mentioned in this article, should not even have to be pointed out. If you join the enemy, you are the enemy. But into today's Western Civilization, common sense is sorely lacking.
There are plenty of people in the world that "don't need to be alive" for one reason or another. These clowns that go over to the enemy of humanity (islam) are certainly no exception. They should all be targeted and killed with the rest of the "hadjis" at each and every opportunity. I'd really like to see carpet bombing and napalm use though. Napalm is one of my personal favorites cause it does such a thorough job. "I love the smell of napalm in the morning!"