The Obama Administration has authorized the targeted killing of an American citizen, the radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. The Times article linked below doesn't come right out and say it, but there's no question that an order like this needed to come from Obama himself.
Stepping back from the predictable responses to an order like this, consider the most important thing it says about Obama himself: this closes once and for all the debate over whether Obama is a foreign policy dove. By focusing so systematically on his opposition to the Iraq War while a candidate, Obama gave many Americans the impression that he was anti-war. His recent moves, in concert with Russia, to reduce the nation's strategic nuclear arsenal – and concurrently to revise American nuclear response protocols – would give the same impression when considered myopically.
Authorizing what amounts to covert assassination of an American citizen, though, is not the move of a man who is unwilling to use necessary force. We can only imagine the kind of intelligence that Obama was presented during the decision-making process here. Given the nearly-unprecedented response, it surely describes the kind of events we hope never to see in the pages of newspapers instead of C.I.A. briefs.
— C.
U.S. Approves Targeted Killing of American Cleric (NYT)
Stepping back from the predictable responses to an order like this, consider the most important thing it says about Obama himself: this closes once and for all the debate over whether Obama is a foreign policy dove. By focusing so systematically on his opposition to the Iraq War while a candidate, Obama gave many Americans the impression that he was anti-war. His recent moves, in concert with Russia, to reduce the nation's strategic nuclear arsenal – and concurrently to revise American nuclear response protocols – would give the same impression when considered myopically.
Authorizing what amounts to covert assassination of an American citizen, though, is not the move of a man who is unwilling to use necessary force. We can only imagine the kind of intelligence that Obama was presented during the decision-making process here. Given the nearly-unprecedented response, it surely describes the kind of events we hope never to see in the pages of newspapers instead of C.I.A. briefs.
— C.
U.S. Approves Targeted Killing of American Cleric (NYT)
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