The killing of American citizen Anwar Al-Awlaki by a US drone strike was hailed by President Obama as a victory for the American people. Was it a victory or something else?
There can be no greater assault upon Individual Rights than the assassination of an Individual by the State and this is true whether that person is a citizen of that country or the citizen of another country. Taking someone's life is rightfully recognized as unjustified except under those conditions where it is the only and last means of protecting one's own life or someone else's life. This implies that the threat is immediate and cannot be turned aside by any lesser force. This immediate danger and lesser force principle is critical because it recognizes that the aggressor is also a human being and taking their life unnecessarily is also an injustice.
What if we apply this principle to the 'Drone Wars' and other targeted killings by the US Government in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen or elsewhere? Are these killings justified under the Constitution? Are they justified under Natural Rights/Human Rights?
First, with regards to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The fifth, sixth, and eight amendments are clear about the Rights of the Individual when he or she is charged by the Government with crimes.
Amendment V - No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury,… ...nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law…
Amendment VI - In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
Amendment VIII -
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
What the US Government states is that these safeguards do not apply to people, citizen or not, in time of war or periods of imminent peril. What the President of the United States has said is that he has the authority as Commander in Chief to declare hostilities against persons, places, or things, and then be the judge, jury and executioner of them. Such declarations are absurd - they cannot be called anything but the hollow pronouncements of the State. It becomes even more absurd when the Government declares their rulings, decisions, and declarations about their decisions to murder others is a State Secret and cannot be revealed.
Secondly, with regards to Natural Rights which are defined as "The rights of individuals in society prior to government. Individual rights are principles that identify and sanction certain interactions between individuals in a civil society while excluding others." It is because these Rights exist prior to Government that Government can be created at all. And since People can only empower Government with authority that they possess the Government is strictly limited to those Powers.
This means that since you, I, ten-thousand of us, or ten hundred-thousands of us can't kill someone except in immediate self-defense neither can the State -- to do so is murder. The rule-of-law, developed over thousands of years, prescribes that Justice can only be maintained by demanding Government and the State absolutely observe the Rights of the Individual. These Rights are clear -- an Individual cannot be deprived of Life, Liberty, or Property without the due process of Law -- that means a trial by Jury, in open Court -- not assassination. These rules are not meant for just peacetime -- they are all the more critical in times of peril. They are not meant to be circumvented by Government under the guise of protecting citizens. Unfortunately the Government of the United States as abandoned this principle.
It is time for the 2nd American Revolution.