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Who Cares About Leaks? Problem Is Drone Policy Itself

Katrina vanden Heuvel: Obama shouldn't have this much power

By John Johnson,  Newser Staff

Posted Jun 12, 2012 1:18 PM CDT

(Newser) – There's lot of outrage these days about President Obama's "kill list" and his manner of personally giving the go-ahead for drones to kill suspected terrorists. But why on earth, wonders Katrina vanden Heuvel in the Washington Post, is all the outrage directed at the media leaks that made all this public rather than the policy itself? The real problem here, writes the editor of the Nation, is "the assertion of a presidential prerogative that the administration can target for death people it decides are terrorists—even American citizens—anywhere in the world, at any time, on secret evidence with no review."

The drone strikes, popular as they may be among the public, are wrong not only on a constitutional level but a strategic one: They generate outrage against America and "seduce the US into literally policing the world," writes vanden Heuvel. It's time for Congress to "reassert its constitutional authority" and put this misguided policy in check. Read the full column here.

President Obama meets with Philippines President Benigno Aquino, Friday, June 8, 2012, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington.
President Obama meets with Philippines President Benigno Aquino, Friday, June 8, 2012, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington.   (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 30 comments
XYandZ
Jun 13, 2012 7:58 AM CDT
Obama is  a murderer. Plain and Simple. If he thinks murder is the solution then why not take out the gangs,mafia etc here in the States?  What about killing all the repeat violent offenders that are in prison who may get released again?
HANKHILL
Jun 12, 2012 10:42 PM CDT
if  bo wants to get reuped good old assend should be at the top of kill list
greenlantern1
Jun 12, 2012 4:40 PM CDT
Should FDR have given the order to "flame his tail" to kill a Japanese admiral that planned Pearl Harbor?   Should Truman have ordered the use of the A-Bomb?
 

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