US Feature: The Secret Memo Justifying The Assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki (Savage)
A personal note on this story by Charlie Savage of The New York Times --- on Saturday, I heard a well-placed US official express pride that the Obama Administration had abolished the phrase "War on Terror" and then, moments later, declare that Washington fought itself in an ongoing wars with extremists and terrorists.
The official then proceeded to lay out the rationalisation summarised below for drone strikes from Pakistan to Yemen and the killing of Anwar al-Awalki, though he insisted that this was not "assassination": anyone "taking part in the war between the United States and Al Qaeda and posed a significant threat to Americans" is a legitimate target.
Note, however, this sentence in the article --- a point which was not addressed by the official I heard --- "the memorandum does not independently analyze the quality of the evidence against" someone marked out for death....
Anwar al-Awlaki, Yemen, assassination