Meanwhile, Back On The "Assassination of Americans" Front

There was a bit of a flap recently over reports that the military/CIA drone war has an approved target list which now includes three or four Americans.

Kenneth Anderson, writing at The Volokh Conspiracy, opined that there is a legal foundation for this sort of thing but that the Administration ought to pin it down before the legal and political climate changes; Stuart Taylor had similar advice to the future war criminals of the Obama Administration.

And this is torn from today's headlines in the scuffle caused by terror advisor John Brennan's claim that Republican leaders were briefed on the decision to take the Underpants Bomber into FBI custody and Mirandize him:

Update: 11:57 A.M.: Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R., Mich.) is pushing back on Obama counter-terror chief John Brennan’s claim that he briefed the House Intellgence Committee’s ranking Republican on the legal status of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.

...

“He never brought this stuff up,” Hoekstra says, adding that the FBI was the natural choice to hold Abdulmutallab until a detainment and interrogation strategy could be settled. “No, I wouldn’t expect the military to be at Detroit Airport waiting to arrest somebody,” Hoekstra adds, but he thought the administration would carefully investigate alternatives and consult with national security principals before moving forward with Miranda rights and other criminal procedures.

Hoekstra, the leading voice of Congressional concerns about the administration’s lack of clear procedures for targeting American-born terrorists for assassination abroad, says Brennan’s comments showed him he would have to exhaustively document what Congress knew and when.

“After Brennan’s comments on Sunday, we will document very, very clearly that we haven’t been briefed,” on Obama’s rules for killing American terrorists abroad, he says. “We haven’t been told what the procedures are, and we don’t want Brennan saying, ‘We told the Republicans that there were bad people out there, well of course they should have known that we would target them.’”

“The guy has completely blown his credibility with Congress,” Hoekstra says of Brennan, who “for all intents and purposes is calling us liars.”

Nancy Pelosi did a miserable job with the "What did she know and when did she know it" questions about her briefings on enhanced interrogation.  Hoekstra seems to have learned something from that.

Comments

[Jack is Back!]

Time to bring Bob Baer in from the cold and have him set up shop at Fox News as the special correspondent on Brennan and his ilk. Marc Thiessen is doing a pretty good job exposing the nincompoop strategy being employed. His book "Courting Disaster" is a great read and available on Kindle which I am finding to be better and better way to read.

[Matthew Crandall]

I am incredulous that Obama is willing to assassinate American citizens in Pakistan, while mirandizing non-citizens and then trying them in civil courts. What is wrong with this guy? Future War Crimes Trials, indeed.

[PaulL]

Didn't Al Gore recently scream about Obama: He betrayed this country! He played on our fears!

[DebinNC]

If Brennan and Hoekstra were involved in a he said-he said incident that would be one thing, but Brennan put himself in a he said-he/he/he/he said situation with Rep. Hoekstra, plus Rep. Boehner, Sen. McConnell, and Sen. Bond all saying Brennan's lying. Among other things, that's incredibly stupid.

[Cecil Turner]

Future War Crimes Trials, indeed.

Yep. I think it's cuz they're refining our foreign policy. They're narrowing it down to "incoherent."

[clarice]

I learned decades ago to carefully document every conversation with govt officials. When they'd (DoJ and DoL officials)start their misrepresentations in court, I'd pull out my daily phone and log sheets and give the date, time and person involved in the conversation and a summary of what was said. After two or three times of this--and their forced admissions of error--they stopped the game.If I represented they'd said something, it went unchallenged.

This is a city of liars. Never forget that.when you deal with them, I'd advise you do the same thing.

[PaulL]

Clarice,

Did you see this time lapse video that HotAir linked to? Snow in D.C.

LUN

[glenda]

You have got to believe Sue's favorite is smiling from ear to ear and dancing jigs. Cheney is the master!! I expect something rich from him soon on the Iran front, yes?

And, I absolutely do miss GWB!

I hope all my friends in DC are under some strong roofs with lots of fireplaces and natural gas. Cuddle with your love ones and be safe through this next storm!

[matt]

This is a terrible carnival of deceit. At a fundamental level, the administration has lost all credibility on matters where the requirement for such is absolute.

Assassination of American citizens for what reasons? Who is targeted and why? What are the charges and crime and are we sure beyond a reasonable doubt? Why would we not attempt to arrest and try them? If we can make the effort to snatch Colombian drug lords, why not these people?

This sounds Orwellian.

[Danube of Thought]

I don't think there's much chance of arresting them while they're in hiding in remote Pakistan. Seems to me there's a very good case that they pose an immediate threat to the lives of many Americans, in which case they badly need killing.

As Rooster Cogburn said, you can't serve papers on a rat.

[narciso]

For the likes of Aulaqi, or Gadahn, or Omaini (sic) the Alambaman born Shahaab commander I don't think there is a problem, but one must consider they might not limit to just them

[Ignatz]

--Seems to me there's a very good case that they pose an immediate threat to the lives of many Americans, in which case they badly need killing.

As Rooster Cogburn said, you can't serve papers on a rat.--

I'm trying, unsuccessfully so far, to determine if there is some way neither of those statements apply to most members of congress.

[Jane]

This is a city of liars. Never forget that.when you deal with them, I'd advise you do the same thing.

Not that I didn't know that, but reading it is quite chilling.

[Ralph L]

This is a city of liars. Never forget that. when you deal with them, I'd advise you do the same thing.
You want us to lie?

[Captain Hate]

I'd be fine with adding Bill Ayers to the list

[clarice]

I'll go check that out, Paul.

Speaking of "assassinations", it appears the case against the Navy Seals is falling apart, too. Looks like another Haditha where the men were charged despite weak evidence to "win hearts and minds"..heads should roll but they won't of course.

[glenda]

city of liars....
another reason many there are so paranoid regarding Sarah Palin..she clearly prefers the truth..and becomes more powerful each time the media lies about it.

a great tribute for Murtha's biography..Re:
navy seals case coming apart!
Oh, and clarice..OT a little, but did it make you smile when Holder pronounced "The civilian trial of KSM would be the summit of his career"?

[bgates]

before moving forward with Miranda rights

It's my understanding that we are endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights; that the Constitution guarantees the federal government will respect those rights with respect to American citizens and some others; and that the Supreme Court has held that one aspect of that guarantee is a requirement for criminal suspects to be informed or reminded of certain aspects of their rights through the Miranda warning. Giving that reminder to someone whose inalienable rights are not guaranteed by the Constitution is simply a mistake.

It appears that our government is run by people who conceive of the Miranda warning as something more like a magical spell, the speaking of which summons rights into existence in an act which cannot be undone.

[geezer]

Pity the Haditha Marines were not chosen for Murtha's cortege. Rope hookup to a pickup and a slow drive through Arlington.

[Danube of Thought]

Does John Brennan make everyone feel nice and safe?

[glenda]

DoT..

Yea, like with Jacques Clouseau!!

[Jane]

Glenda, Are you okay. I thought I read that you have been sick.

[glenda]

Jane..
Thank you for asking. Yes, I had/have a viral respiratory infection for @3weeks,combined with my immune disorders and heart disease, it's been rough, but I am starting to want to get out and spend money--that's a good sign.
I've been reading daily, just haven't felt like thinking much less posting.
I see you are as busy as ever, fighting the good fight! It's amazing what one little special election has done to American politics. Yea MA!
How are you and Amy handling the "storm of the century"? Or is it not as bad in Beantown?

[Neo]

The Obama Administration had previously made statements that to ensure there was no harsh treatment that all interviews of “high value targets” would be done by the FBI, instead of the CIA.
So, even if Brennan had told GOP leaders that the FBI was interviewing Abdulmutallab, there was no reason for the GOP leaders to infer that this “high value target” had been or would be mirandized.

[Neo]

"The attorney general said, 'I'm going to charge him tomorrow,' " and "there were questions raised about whether or not he should in fact go to law of war detention status," according to the transcript of a White House background briefing for reporters last Tuesday by two senior administration officials.

If John Brennan is to be believed, then clearly this shows that there are al Qaeda sympathizers in the White House.

[Cecil Turner]

From Neo's link:

At that NSC meeting were Vice President Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair, CIA Director Leon Panetta, NSA Director Keith B. Alexander, FBI Director Robert Mueller and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It was not disclosed who raised the question.

Okay, who's missing?

[Charlie (Colorado)]

WTF is Steven Chu doing at the meeting?

[clarice]

glenda, I'm sorry to hear that but glad you are getting better.

[clarice]

glenda, I hadn't heard that's what Holder said--maybe he meant the "precipice of his career" or something.

[clarice]

No--I'm not advising lying. I'm advising keeping a close, detailed, chronological record of all conversations with federal officials and investigators.

[Frau Regenschirm]

clarice - ah, memoranda of conversations -the memcons we know and love so well. Thanks for the reminder.

It was not disclosed who raised the question.
Another unauthorized visitor who wandered in?

[Frau Regenschirm]

Be good to yourself,glenda, and take care.

Back in a previous life,while meeting with school administrators, it was effective to use a legal pad and ask cheerfully if I had recorded things accurately.

[Ignatz]

--that the Constitution guarantees the federal government will respect those rights with respect to American citizens--

Yes, but Barry is a citizen of the world.

[Jane]

Glenda,

I'm glad you are on the mend.

How are you and Amy handling the "storm of the century"? Or is it not as bad in Beantown?

Ours is scheduled for tomorrow. But we are pros unlike the wimps in DC who for some reason think they have to rake their roofs. (ducking)

[Janet]

We were too cheap to use a roof rake. We used Nathan instead...

[Frau Regenschirm]

He'll thank you for the sponge baths from those hot nurses, Janet.

[Janet]

Haha Frau..a bad Google picture choice from his prudish mother! Knowing the internet, it could have been a lot worse.

[Ralph L]

WTF is Steven Chu doing at the meeting?
I assume he's on the NS Council because DoE oversees US nuclear facilities, including plutonium production.

[Thomas Collins]

Glenda, great to hear from you! Spend that money! And don't worry about thinking when posting. Your most thoughtless post is more welcome than the most well thought out position paper from the Oministration!

[matt]

Chu is going to nuke them, of course.

I was listening to NPR's "Wait Wait, don't tell me" on the long drive down from NorCal on Sunday, and they had Chu on as their guest.

He sounded like the very model of the arrogant elitist condescending scientific bureaucrat.

[glenda]

Great joy in my heart to hear from 'use guys!

[Neo]

Members of the new interrogation unit will have the authority to travel around the world to talk to suspects and will be trained to handle certain high-interest people, such as al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Linguists and cultural and interrogation specialists will be assigned to the group and will have "some division of responsibility" regarding types of detainees, a senior administration official said. Most of the group's members will work there full time, although they will have part-time support from the FBI.

Interrogators will not necessarily read detainees their rights before questioning, instead making that decision on a case-by-case basis, officials said. That could affect whether some material can be used in a U.S. court of law. The main purpose of the new unit, however, is to glean intelligence, especially about potential terrorist attacks, the officials said.

"It is not going to, certainly, be automatic in any regard that they are going to be Mirandized," one official said, referring to the practice of reading defendants their rights. "Nor will it be automatic that they are not Mirandized."

The director of the HIG is expected to come from the FBI, and the deputy will be selected from one of the intelligence agencies, such as the CIA. Although past CIA techniques have come under fire in the debate over torture, the agency will continue to play "a very important role," one official said.

So if you got a call that the FBI was interrogating a "high-interest" person, would you assume they were Mirandized ?