Source: RT
Presidential hopeful Ron Paul has publically attacked the Obama
administration’s abolishment of due process in a new editorial, calling
the move a turning point in American history.
Responding to Attorney General Eric Holder’s recent justification for
the extrajudicial killings of three American citizens on foreign soil,
Republican Party candidate Ron Paul has penned a scathing op-ed
condemning the White House for circumventing the US Constitution.
Earlier this month Holder spoke at Chicago’s Northwestern Law School to
discuss last year’s execution of alleged terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki and
two other US-born clerics in Yemen, a decision he says the White House
still defends despite criticism from citizens and lawmakers alike.
Although
both US President Barack Obama and the CIA signed off on the airstrike
that killed the American citizens, Washington has been relatively quiet
on the matter until Holder spoke earlier this month.
After
Attorney General Holder justified the assassination of Americans, a
congressional inquiry revealed that Robert Mueller, director of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, wasn’t certain
that the same laws could be applied to killing Americans on US soil.
With the FBI and Oval Office both hiding behind vague verbiage to allow
the assassination of their own citizens, Ron Paul is critiquing what he
calls a complete disregard of the Constitution.
“It is
particularly bizarre to hear the logic of the administration claiming
the right to target its citizens according to some secret selection
process, when we justified our attacks against Iraq and Libya because
their leaders supposedly were targeting their own citizens,” writes Rep. Paul. “We also now plan a covert war against Syria for the same reason.”
The
congressman adds in his explanation that he is all for justice brought
on those that threaten America or its people, but that the US Department
of Justice has — and should continue — to view these issues on a
case-by-case basis. On the contrary, argues Paul, it seems as if the
president puts himself above all other branches of the federal
government, essentially eliminating the system of checks and balances
constructed by America’s forefathers.
Holder, says Paul,
“tells us that this is not a violation of the due process requirements
of our Constitution because the President himself embodies ‘due process’
as he unilaterally determines who is to be targeted. As Holder said, ‘a
careful and thorough executive branch review of the facts in a case
amounts to “due process.”’ That means that the administration believes
it is the President himself who is to be the judge, jury and
executioner.”
“Our civilian court system, with the
guarantee of real due process, judicial review, and a fair trial, is our
strength, not a weakness,” writes Rep. Paul. “It is not an
impediment to be sidestepped in the push for convictions or
assassinations, but rather a process that guarantees that fundamental
right to be considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.”
After
the CIA ordered and executed a “targeted kill” on Awlaki and alleged
al-Qaeda operative Samir Khan last year, Ron Paul responded the same day
to condemn the assassinations. "Nobody knows if he ever killed anybody," Paul said at time. "If the American people accept this blindly and casually…I think that's sad."
Now
that the US has formally acknowledged that it stands by the killing
months later, the congressman seems to be even more concerned with the
turn America is taking, describing Holder’s explanation as something “history likely will record as a turning point.”
