The Great American Crisis
Content
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Damen Ruppert Professor Njoroge PSC 201-70 2 May 2013 The Great American Crisis The United States of America is on track to become the epitome of a police state. The tyrannical government that now occupies our public offices continues to institute laws that take away our natural rights that should remain inalienable. When the Continental Congress sent a declaration of independence to the tyrannical King George it stated that “Governments are instituted among men, driving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it”. We must alter our current path before we see full scale Orwellian police-state fascism. In the years to come our beloved country will morph into a shadow of its former self. Starting with the decay of the election process via Super Pac‟s, the court case of Citizens United that gives corporations 1st amendment rights is an abomination. Secondly an analysis of the provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 pertaining to the detention of American citizens without trial indefinitely who are accused of “terrorist activities”. Thirdly, a detailed pick apart of HR 347 which bans forms of peaceful protest, and directly violates the nature of our first amendment. Lastly, the repulsive acts of our government that include the killing of American citizens via drones strikes without a trial, spying on American citizens, and
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the war crime of using double tap drones to kill first responders in countries where the United States uses military force. Our government controls our mainstream media, making it difficult for American citizens to see how corrupt our system is becoming. I will endlessly work to uncover the injustice done by our government. On January 21st 2010, the Supreme Court case Citizens United v. Federal Trade Commission was decided in favor of Citizens United. Five U.S. Supreme Court justices legalized the wholesale purchase of America‟s elected officials. In its landmark decision, Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission, the court‟s majority ruled that corporations, as persons, have a First Amendment right to spend unlimited amounts of money, as speech, on campaign advertisements as long as those communications are not formally coordinated with any candidate (Ott 1). Corporations do not have feelings, they cannot breathe and they cannot speak on their own accord, they are not people. First amendment rights are reserved for American citizens, and American citizens only. The Supreme Court decision proved to become the birth of the Super Pac; independent and shadowy political organizations that can flood unlimited campaign money into local races with television ads and influence the outcome. In the end, candidates for office lose control over their campaign when secret entities enter the fray with their big money (Love 1). What we are seeing is an oligarchic rise in America; a few businesses have bought our entire political system. The 112th Congress of the United States of America during the first session signed NDAA 2012 on January 5th 2011 (Boehner 1). The National Defense authorization act of 2012 or HR 1540 has authorized the armed forces to detain any person that is simply suspected of terrorist activities, without right to a trial. Under subtitle D-Counterterrorism Section 1021, the NDAA states “associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its
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coalition partners, including any person who has committed a belligerent act or has directly supported such hostilities” (Boehner 265). Those accused of “hostilities” will be placed in “(1) Detention under the law of war without trial until the end of the hostilities authorized by the Authorization for Use of Military Force” (Boehner 265). The vague language used in this document could potentially fuel the round up of citizens who simply speak out aggressively against the government. This directly suspends the writ of habeas corpus. The United States clearly states in the Suspension Clause, located in Article One, Section 9, “The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it” (Bardes 67). The United States of America are in no such time of rebellion, and certainly in no danger of invasion. Therefore, this act is unconstitutional, and a dangerous step towards the shattering of liberty. HR 1540 in coalition with HR347 essentially gives absolute power to the federal government to imprison citizens who stand out against the government. Just as the Patriot Act took an incremental layer of freedom away from U.S citizens, another layer has been stripped in the name of NDAA 2012. Both unconstitutional acts have been done under the cloak of “safety”. Safety and freedom do not coexist well, the increase of safety will always take away some freedom, and the increase of freedom will always take away some safety. At this current time freedom is dwindling rapidly, but how much of our freedom is being replaced by safety? The National Defense Act of 2012 is an instrument in the allocation of power by the federal government. The 112th Congress of the United States of America during its second session signed HR 347 on January 3rd, 2012 (Boehner 1). The Federal Restricting buildings and grounds improvement act of 2011 or HR 347, makes it a federal crime to simply disrupt the orderly conduct of the government. Under section 2 of this bill it states “knowingly, and with intent to
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impede or disrupt the orderly conduct of government business or official functions, engages in disorderly or disruptive conduct in, or within such proximity to, any restricted building or grounds when, or so that, such conduct, in fact, impedes or disrupts the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions;” (Boehner 1). Notice that the bill states that anyone who intends on disrupting government business within the proximity to, any restricting building can be charged with a criminal charge. The charge will be „„(2) a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both, in any other case” (Boehner 1). This bill does not blatantly say that protesters will be imprisoned, but the law can be interpreted in such a way that would allow the federal government to arrest those who are protesting within the proximity of a government building. “Government building” has also been defined in this bill- „„(C) of a building or grounds so restricted in conjunction with an event designated as a special event of national significance;” (Boehner 2) which is essentially whatever building the government decides to occupy. The language of this bill is too vague, and could potentially be used against the American people. This bill is a direct violation of the first amendment which protects our right to peacefully protest. Congress, as stated in the Constitution, is not allowed to make any law that takes away our first amendment rights, yet they did. President Obama signed this bill into effect on March 9th 2012, rather than exercising his veto power to amend what he swore to uphold. This bill is one of many ways that the government is currently over stepping their boundaries. The most extreme consequences of this bill will be moving the United States closer to a state capable of fear mongering to end protesting and public criticism of government. The FAA Reauthorization act passed by Congress and signed into effect by President Obama on February 14th 2012, is a bill that develops the regulations of drone use on U.S soil (Boehner 1). Until this bill, there has been no government legislation passed on the use of drones
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within American boundaries. Drones or unmanned aircraft have been used in the past overseas for surveillance and assassinations during our “war on terror”. The FAA Reauthorization act or HR658 states in Section 903 that they plan on “integrating all classes of unmanned aircraft systems into the national airspace system” (Boehner 138). This means that Congress has greenlighted the use of drones as surveillance equipment for government agencies, police and defense bodies alike under the umbrella of counter terrorism. By the use of vague language once again the federal government has left the door wide open for the ultimate manipulation of a bill. The FAA or Federal Aviation Administration has predicted that by 2020 that there will 30,000 drones flying over U.S soil (Smithson 1). With this bill, the FAA has the power to license entities the privilege of using drones based on their need. Police departments in various cities have applied for the use of drones for law enforcement, consisting of surveillance and in some cases crowd control. A Sheriff‟s office in Texas even went so far as to that they will equip their $300,000 Shadow hawk drone with tasers, tear gas and rubber bullets (Stuart 1). If what the FAA has estimated is true, and 30,000 drones will be over head, then we will be living in a police state. A state in which every movement is monitored and judged for prosecution is nothing other than a police state. Our 4th amendment clearly states that citizens have the right “To be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizure” (Bardes 73). The FAA reauthorization act is another kick in 4th amendment in teeth, teeth that were loosened by the Patriot Act. The widespread use of drones for surveillance is no different than a person monitoring your every move; the government can now efficiently and legally spy on its own people. As previously stated, drones have been and continue to be used for the “war on terror”. In the case of American citizen Anwar Al-Awlaki, on September 30th, 2011 the executive branch of
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the United States ordered his assassination via drone strike (Uygur 1). Al-Awlaki was supposedly a cornerstone operational figure of the Al-Qaeda forces, but our executive branch failed to present one shred of evidence of this accusation (Uygur 1). The Obama administration never charged Awlaki with any crime and has never even acknowledged the authorization that it sent the drone that killed him (Cole 1). This is an American citizen, and he was never even charged with a crime, he was simply killed. Although nearly everybody who has studied this assassination concludes that Awlaki was indeed a member of Al-Qaeda, it does not change the fact that an American citizen was killed without a trial. Surely if Al-Awlaki was indeed a member of Al-Qaeda then the court system would most indefinitely find him to be guilty. A New York times journalist Mark Mazzetti wrote “Eighteen months later, despite the Obama administration‟s effort to keep it cloaked in secrecy, the decision to hunt and kill Mr. Awlaki has become the subject of new public scrutiny and debate, touched off by the nomination of John O. Brennan, Mr. Obama‟s counterterrorism adviser, to be head of the C.I.A” (Mazzetti 1). Among the public scrutiny, Rand Paul a Senator from Kentucky spent 13 hours on the senate floor in his filibuster in an attempt to delay the nomination of John Brennan, who has been the essential pawn in the Obama administration drone attacks. This issue has been given the correct media attention, unlike HR 347, HR 658 and HR 1540 thanks to Senator Paul, almost. Several news stations including MSNBC called Paul an obstructionist. Our mainstream media is on the government‟s payroll, in that of subsidies; therefore a Senator who is asking the very simple question as to why American citizens are being killed is nothing more than an obstructionist. Among the Kentucky Senators filibuster he hammered heavily on the Fifth Amendment which states that "no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process” (Bardes 73). It is quite simple, the executive branch under no circumstances can deny a citizen due
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process, yet our executive branch deems it irrelevant. During Paul‟s filibuster and the following days after, #StandwithRand was the top trending topic on the social networking website Twitter, a primarily youth oriented website. Americans are starting to wake up to the fact that freedom is taking a back seat to the self serving agenda of a tyrannical government. Unfortunately many still subscribe to the media that labels civil rights activists to be “obstructionists”. Between June 2004 and September 2012, according to research by the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism, the US has killed between 3,072 and 4,756 in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia in drone strikes (AFP 1). Pro-Drone Republican Senator Lindsey Graham claimed “We‟ve killed 4,700” (AFP 1). Both reliable sources of measurement claim that many of their figures are citizens, and children. A United Nations investigation into targeted killings will examine drone strikes in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia (Bowcott 1). A report will be presented for the UN general assembly in New York in the fall of 2013. Depending on the report findings, further action may be taken on the use of “double tap” drone strikes where rescuers going to the aid of the first drone strike are hit with a second strike (Bowcott 1). The use of double tap drones is a war crime, and an all around crime against humanity. Another military force that uses the double tap method is our own enemy Al-Qaeda. The Washington-based New America Foundation says there have been 350 US drone strikes since 2004, most of them during Barack Obama‟s presidency (AFP 1). “The Wall Street Journal reported and said that the bulk of the drone attacks are signature attacks” Senator Paul Said. “They don‟t even know the name of the person. A line or a caravan is going from a place where we think there are bad people to a place where we think they might commit harm and we kill the caravan, not the person. Is that the standard that we will now use in America?”(Grim 1). People in Afghanistan and Pakistan often bring weapons to weddings and they fire the guns in the air to celebrate. We see the “signature”
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of terrorist because there are many guns in the area and obliterate the entire wedding party (Uygur 1). From an outside perspective, one may wonder how much actual attention is given to the accuracy of these drone strikes, and who is checking the power of President Obama in these attacks? No one, only Afghanistan drone strikes are under the authority of the US military, subject to checks and balances, but the strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere are covert attacks overseen by the CIA (AFP 1). It would seem that John Brennan becoming the CIA director under the nomination from President Obama would be a conflict of interest. Brennan of course for the past 4 years has been Obama‟s counter terrorism advisor, and is an essential pawn in Obama‟s drone war (Filkins 1). The atrocities displayed by the government in this paper are only a handful of personal grievances. Near daily new legislation is in the preliminary stages of potentially taking away more rights from citizens. Super Pac‟s have torn into the election circuit, destroyed nearly all congressional idealists, and left the country to be fueled by monetary gains. All governments will possess a degree of corruption that will differ in magnitude based on time, place and the moral fiber of the people in power. I put forth that we are living in the single most corrupt pool of injustice and unconstitutionality that our country has ever seen. Legislation has been passed for the suspension of habeas corpus, the suspension of the 1st and 4th amendments, killing American citizens, and the legalization of spying via drones. Our judicial branch doesn‟t have any of the above unconstitutional bills/actions under review, so the judicial branch won‟t be fixing anything. Our Congress has been bought by the capitalist tycoons, so the bills they create will represent the wealthy and powerful. The executive branch won‟t block congressional bullying, and is waging drone wars abroad. Missing from the entire scheme is the checks and balances that were intended in our government structure. I do not possess the skill, intelligence or power to
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hold the answers of how to overturn the legislation that limits our natural rights; I simply seek to expose corruption. We must mass communicate these ideals of true liberty to the people and give the power of knowledge back to a misinformed country. Television broadcast communication is out of the cards, no longer do news networks share with their viewers the real issues our country faces. I suggest the verbal and digital spreading of these acts via internet, especially through social networking cites where a fairly large audience (relatively) can be spoken to at once. I was born and raised to love the United States of America, and still do. It sickens me to think about what our country will look like in the matter of a few years if our path does not change. America must fight back, as our dear President Lincoln once said “You can fool some of the people all the time, all the people some of the time, but you can‟t fool all the people all of the time”.
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Works Cited Bardes, Barbara A., Mack C. Shelley II, and Steffen W. Schmidt. American Government and Politics Today The Essentials 2011 - 2012 Edition. 2011-2012 ed. Boston: Wadsworth Pub, 2011. Print. Bowcott, Owen. "UN to Examine UK and US Drone Strikes." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 23 Jan. 2013. Web. 15 Apr. 2013. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/24/unexamine-uk-afghanistan-drone-strikes>. Cole, David. "President Obama, Did or Did You Not Kill Anwar Al-Awlaki?" Washington Post. N.p., 08 Feb. 2013. Web. 14 Apr. 2013. <http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-0208/opinions/36984141_1_habeas-corpus-union-troops-disappearances>. Filkins, Dexter. "What We Don‟t Know About Drones." The New Yorker. N.p., 7 Feb. 2013. Web. 15 Apr. 2013. <http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2013/02/john-brennan-and-thetruth-about-drones.html>. Grim, Ryan. "John Brennan Confirmation Battle Stirs Drone Strike Controversy." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 07 Mar. 2013. Web. 15 Apr. 2013. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/07/john-brennan-drones_n_2823583.html>. Love, David A. "Two Years Later, Citizens United Decision Proves Bad for Democracy." The Progressive. N.p., 21 Jan. 2012. Web. 26 Apr. 2013. <http://progressive.org/citizens_united_decision.html>. Mazzetti, Mark. "How a U.S. Citizen Came to Be in America‟s Cross Hairs." Nytimes.com. N.p., 9 Mar. 2013. Web. 14 Apr. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/10/world/middleeast/anwar-alawlaki-a-us-citizen-in-americas-cross-hairs.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0>.
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Ott, Riki. "Citizens United-Legalizing the Wholesale Purchase of America‟s Elected Officials A A0." EcoWatch Cutting Edge Environmental News Service. N.p., 25 Sept. 2012. Web. 24 Apr. 2013. <http://ecowatch.com/2012/purchase-elected-officials/>. P, A. F. "US Senator Says 4,700 Killed in US Drone Strikes." Nation.co.ke. N.p., 21 Feb. 2013. Web. 15 Apr. 2013. <http://www.nation.co.ke/News/world/US-Senator-says-4700-killed-in-US-dronestrikes/-/1068/1700174/-/item/0/-/1grwek/-/index.html>. Smithson, S. "Drones over U.S. Get OK by Congress." The Washingtion Times. N.p., 14 Feb. 2012. Web. 14 Apr. 2013. <http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/feb/7/coming-to-a-sky-nearyou/?page=all>. Stuart, Hunter. "Drone List Released By FAA Shows Which Police Departments Want To Fly Unmanned Aerial Vehicles." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 08 Feb. 2013. Web. 14 Apr. 2013. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/08/drone-list-domestic-police-lawenforcement-surveillance_n_2647530.html>. United States. Congress. Senate and House of Representatives. H.R 347. By John Boehner. Washington: n.p., 2012. Gpo.gov. 3 Jan. 2012. Web. 15 Apr. 2013. <http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS112hr347enr/pdf/BILLS-112hr347enr.pdf>. United States. Congress. Senate and House of Representatives. H.R 658. By John Boehner. Washington: n.p., 2012. Faa.gov. 14 Mar. 2012. Web. 15 Apr. 2013. <http://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/reauthorization/media/PLAW-112publ95[1].pdf>. United States. Congress. Senate and House of Representatives. National Defense Act of 2012. By John Boehner. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Gpo.gov. 5 Jan. 2011. Web. 15 Apr. 2013. <http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112hr1540enr/pdf/BILLS-112hr1540enr.pdf>.
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Uygur, Cenk. "The 3 Real Problems With Drone Strikes." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 07 Mar. 2013. Web. 15 Apr. 2013. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cenk-uygur/drone-strikesbarack-obama_b_2832172.html?utm_hp_ref=tw>.
Damen Ruppert Professor Njoroge PSC 201-70 2 May 2013 The Great American Crisis The United States of America is on track to become the epitome of a police state. The tyrannical government that now occupies our public offices continues to institute laws that take away our natural rights that should remain inalienable. When the Continental Congress sent a declaration of independence to the tyrannical King George it stated that “Governments are instituted among men, driving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it”. We must alter our current path before we see full scale Orwellian police-state fascism. In the years to come our beloved country will morph into a shadow of its former self. Starting with the decay of the election process via Super Pac‟s, the court case of Citizens United that gives corporations 1st amendment rights is an abomination. Secondly an analysis of the provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 pertaining to the detention of American citizens without trial indefinitely who are accused of “terrorist activities”. Thirdly, a detailed pick apart of HR 347 which bans forms of peaceful protest, and directly violates the nature of our first amendment. Lastly, the repulsive acts of our government that include the killing of American citizens via drones strikes without a trial, spying on American citizens, and
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the war crime of using double tap drones to kill first responders in countries where the United States uses military force. Our government controls our mainstream media, making it difficult for American citizens to see how corrupt our system is becoming. I will endlessly work to uncover the injustice done by our government. On January 21st 2010, the Supreme Court case Citizens United v. Federal Trade Commission was decided in favor of Citizens United. Five U.S. Supreme Court justices legalized the wholesale purchase of America‟s elected officials. In its landmark decision, Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission, the court‟s majority ruled that corporations, as persons, have a First Amendment right to spend unlimited amounts of money, as speech, on campaign advertisements as long as those communications are not formally coordinated with any candidate (Ott 1). Corporations do not have feelings, they cannot breathe and they cannot speak on their own accord, they are not people. First amendment rights are reserved for American citizens, and American citizens only. The Supreme Court decision proved to become the birth of the Super Pac; independent and shadowy political organizations that can flood unlimited campaign money into local races with television ads and influence the outcome. In the end, candidates for office lose control over their campaign when secret entities enter the fray with their big money (Love 1). What we are seeing is an oligarchic rise in America; a few businesses have bought our entire political system. The 112th Congress of the United States of America during the first session signed NDAA 2012 on January 5th 2011 (Boehner 1). The National Defense authorization act of 2012 or HR 1540 has authorized the armed forces to detain any person that is simply suspected of terrorist activities, without right to a trial. Under subtitle D-Counterterrorism Section 1021, the NDAA states “associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its
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coalition partners, including any person who has committed a belligerent act or has directly supported such hostilities” (Boehner 265). Those accused of “hostilities” will be placed in “(1) Detention under the law of war without trial until the end of the hostilities authorized by the Authorization for Use of Military Force” (Boehner 265). The vague language used in this document could potentially fuel the round up of citizens who simply speak out aggressively against the government. This directly suspends the writ of habeas corpus. The United States clearly states in the Suspension Clause, located in Article One, Section 9, “The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it” (Bardes 67). The United States of America are in no such time of rebellion, and certainly in no danger of invasion. Therefore, this act is unconstitutional, and a dangerous step towards the shattering of liberty. HR 1540 in coalition with HR347 essentially gives absolute power to the federal government to imprison citizens who stand out against the government. Just as the Patriot Act took an incremental layer of freedom away from U.S citizens, another layer has been stripped in the name of NDAA 2012. Both unconstitutional acts have been done under the cloak of “safety”. Safety and freedom do not coexist well, the increase of safety will always take away some freedom, and the increase of freedom will always take away some safety. At this current time freedom is dwindling rapidly, but how much of our freedom is being replaced by safety? The National Defense Act of 2012 is an instrument in the allocation of power by the federal government. The 112th Congress of the United States of America during its second session signed HR 347 on January 3rd, 2012 (Boehner 1). The Federal Restricting buildings and grounds improvement act of 2011 or HR 347, makes it a federal crime to simply disrupt the orderly conduct of the government. Under section 2 of this bill it states “knowingly, and with intent to
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impede or disrupt the orderly conduct of government business or official functions, engages in disorderly or disruptive conduct in, or within such proximity to, any restricted building or grounds when, or so that, such conduct, in fact, impedes or disrupts the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions;” (Boehner 1). Notice that the bill states that anyone who intends on disrupting government business within the proximity to, any restricting building can be charged with a criminal charge. The charge will be „„(2) a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both, in any other case” (Boehner 1). This bill does not blatantly say that protesters will be imprisoned, but the law can be interpreted in such a way that would allow the federal government to arrest those who are protesting within the proximity of a government building. “Government building” has also been defined in this bill- „„(C) of a building or grounds so restricted in conjunction with an event designated as a special event of national significance;” (Boehner 2) which is essentially whatever building the government decides to occupy. The language of this bill is too vague, and could potentially be used against the American people. This bill is a direct violation of the first amendment which protects our right to peacefully protest. Congress, as stated in the Constitution, is not allowed to make any law that takes away our first amendment rights, yet they did. President Obama signed this bill into effect on March 9th 2012, rather than exercising his veto power to amend what he swore to uphold. This bill is one of many ways that the government is currently over stepping their boundaries. The most extreme consequences of this bill will be moving the United States closer to a state capable of fear mongering to end protesting and public criticism of government. The FAA Reauthorization act passed by Congress and signed into effect by President Obama on February 14th 2012, is a bill that develops the regulations of drone use on U.S soil (Boehner 1). Until this bill, there has been no government legislation passed on the use of drones
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within American boundaries. Drones or unmanned aircraft have been used in the past overseas for surveillance and assassinations during our “war on terror”. The FAA Reauthorization act or HR658 states in Section 903 that they plan on “integrating all classes of unmanned aircraft systems into the national airspace system” (Boehner 138). This means that Congress has greenlighted the use of drones as surveillance equipment for government agencies, police and defense bodies alike under the umbrella of counter terrorism. By the use of vague language once again the federal government has left the door wide open for the ultimate manipulation of a bill. The FAA or Federal Aviation Administration has predicted that by 2020 that there will 30,000 drones flying over U.S soil (Smithson 1). With this bill, the FAA has the power to license entities the privilege of using drones based on their need. Police departments in various cities have applied for the use of drones for law enforcement, consisting of surveillance and in some cases crowd control. A Sheriff‟s office in Texas even went so far as to that they will equip their $300,000 Shadow hawk drone with tasers, tear gas and rubber bullets (Stuart 1). If what the FAA has estimated is true, and 30,000 drones will be over head, then we will be living in a police state. A state in which every movement is monitored and judged for prosecution is nothing other than a police state. Our 4th amendment clearly states that citizens have the right “To be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizure” (Bardes 73). The FAA reauthorization act is another kick in 4th amendment in teeth, teeth that were loosened by the Patriot Act. The widespread use of drones for surveillance is no different than a person monitoring your every move; the government can now efficiently and legally spy on its own people. As previously stated, drones have been and continue to be used for the “war on terror”. In the case of American citizen Anwar Al-Awlaki, on September 30th, 2011 the executive branch of
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the United States ordered his assassination via drone strike (Uygur 1). Al-Awlaki was supposedly a cornerstone operational figure of the Al-Qaeda forces, but our executive branch failed to present one shred of evidence of this accusation (Uygur 1). The Obama administration never charged Awlaki with any crime and has never even acknowledged the authorization that it sent the drone that killed him (Cole 1). This is an American citizen, and he was never even charged with a crime, he was simply killed. Although nearly everybody who has studied this assassination concludes that Awlaki was indeed a member of Al-Qaeda, it does not change the fact that an American citizen was killed without a trial. Surely if Al-Awlaki was indeed a member of Al-Qaeda then the court system would most indefinitely find him to be guilty. A New York times journalist Mark Mazzetti wrote “Eighteen months later, despite the Obama administration‟s effort to keep it cloaked in secrecy, the decision to hunt and kill Mr. Awlaki has become the subject of new public scrutiny and debate, touched off by the nomination of John O. Brennan, Mr. Obama‟s counterterrorism adviser, to be head of the C.I.A” (Mazzetti 1). Among the public scrutiny, Rand Paul a Senator from Kentucky spent 13 hours on the senate floor in his filibuster in an attempt to delay the nomination of John Brennan, who has been the essential pawn in the Obama administration drone attacks. This issue has been given the correct media attention, unlike HR 347, HR 658 and HR 1540 thanks to Senator Paul, almost. Several news stations including MSNBC called Paul an obstructionist. Our mainstream media is on the government‟s payroll, in that of subsidies; therefore a Senator who is asking the very simple question as to why American citizens are being killed is nothing more than an obstructionist. Among the Kentucky Senators filibuster he hammered heavily on the Fifth Amendment which states that "no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process” (Bardes 73). It is quite simple, the executive branch under no circumstances can deny a citizen due
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process, yet our executive branch deems it irrelevant. During Paul‟s filibuster and the following days after, #StandwithRand was the top trending topic on the social networking website Twitter, a primarily youth oriented website. Americans are starting to wake up to the fact that freedom is taking a back seat to the self serving agenda of a tyrannical government. Unfortunately many still subscribe to the media that labels civil rights activists to be “obstructionists”. Between June 2004 and September 2012, according to research by the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism, the US has killed between 3,072 and 4,756 in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia in drone strikes (AFP 1). Pro-Drone Republican Senator Lindsey Graham claimed “We‟ve killed 4,700” (AFP 1). Both reliable sources of measurement claim that many of their figures are citizens, and children. A United Nations investigation into targeted killings will examine drone strikes in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia (Bowcott 1). A report will be presented for the UN general assembly in New York in the fall of 2013. Depending on the report findings, further action may be taken on the use of “double tap” drone strikes where rescuers going to the aid of the first drone strike are hit with a second strike (Bowcott 1). The use of double tap drones is a war crime, and an all around crime against humanity. Another military force that uses the double tap method is our own enemy Al-Qaeda. The Washington-based New America Foundation says there have been 350 US drone strikes since 2004, most of them during Barack Obama‟s presidency (AFP 1). “The Wall Street Journal reported and said that the bulk of the drone attacks are signature attacks” Senator Paul Said. “They don‟t even know the name of the person. A line or a caravan is going from a place where we think there are bad people to a place where we think they might commit harm and we kill the caravan, not the person. Is that the standard that we will now use in America?”(Grim 1). People in Afghanistan and Pakistan often bring weapons to weddings and they fire the guns in the air to celebrate. We see the “signature”
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of terrorist because there are many guns in the area and obliterate the entire wedding party (Uygur 1). From an outside perspective, one may wonder how much actual attention is given to the accuracy of these drone strikes, and who is checking the power of President Obama in these attacks? No one, only Afghanistan drone strikes are under the authority of the US military, subject to checks and balances, but the strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere are covert attacks overseen by the CIA (AFP 1). It would seem that John Brennan becoming the CIA director under the nomination from President Obama would be a conflict of interest. Brennan of course for the past 4 years has been Obama‟s counter terrorism advisor, and is an essential pawn in Obama‟s drone war (Filkins 1). The atrocities displayed by the government in this paper are only a handful of personal grievances. Near daily new legislation is in the preliminary stages of potentially taking away more rights from citizens. Super Pac‟s have torn into the election circuit, destroyed nearly all congressional idealists, and left the country to be fueled by monetary gains. All governments will possess a degree of corruption that will differ in magnitude based on time, place and the moral fiber of the people in power. I put forth that we are living in the single most corrupt pool of injustice and unconstitutionality that our country has ever seen. Legislation has been passed for the suspension of habeas corpus, the suspension of the 1st and 4th amendments, killing American citizens, and the legalization of spying via drones. Our judicial branch doesn‟t have any of the above unconstitutional bills/actions under review, so the judicial branch won‟t be fixing anything. Our Congress has been bought by the capitalist tycoons, so the bills they create will represent the wealthy and powerful. The executive branch won‟t block congressional bullying, and is waging drone wars abroad. Missing from the entire scheme is the checks and balances that were intended in our government structure. I do not possess the skill, intelligence or power to
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hold the answers of how to overturn the legislation that limits our natural rights; I simply seek to expose corruption. We must mass communicate these ideals of true liberty to the people and give the power of knowledge back to a misinformed country. Television broadcast communication is out of the cards, no longer do news networks share with their viewers the real issues our country faces. I suggest the verbal and digital spreading of these acts via internet, especially through social networking cites where a fairly large audience (relatively) can be spoken to at once. I was born and raised to love the United States of America, and still do. It sickens me to think about what our country will look like in the matter of a few years if our path does not change. America must fight back, as our dear President Lincoln once said “You can fool some of the people all the time, all the people some of the time, but you can‟t fool all the people all of the time”.
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Works Cited Bardes, Barbara A., Mack C. Shelley II, and Steffen W. Schmidt. American Government and Politics Today The Essentials 2011 - 2012 Edition. 2011-2012 ed. Boston: Wadsworth Pub, 2011. Print. Bowcott, Owen. "UN to Examine UK and US Drone Strikes." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 23 Jan. 2013. Web. 15 Apr. 2013. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/24/unexamine-uk-afghanistan-drone-strikes>. Cole, David. "President Obama, Did or Did You Not Kill Anwar Al-Awlaki?" Washington Post. N.p., 08 Feb. 2013. Web. 14 Apr. 2013. <http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-0208/opinions/36984141_1_habeas-corpus-union-troops-disappearances>. Filkins, Dexter. "What We Don‟t Know About Drones." The New Yorker. N.p., 7 Feb. 2013. Web. 15 Apr. 2013. <http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2013/02/john-brennan-and-thetruth-about-drones.html>. Grim, Ryan. "John Brennan Confirmation Battle Stirs Drone Strike Controversy." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 07 Mar. 2013. Web. 15 Apr. 2013. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/07/john-brennan-drones_n_2823583.html>. Love, David A. "Two Years Later, Citizens United Decision Proves Bad for Democracy." The Progressive. N.p., 21 Jan. 2012. Web. 26 Apr. 2013. <http://progressive.org/citizens_united_decision.html>. Mazzetti, Mark. "How a U.S. Citizen Came to Be in America‟s Cross Hairs." Nytimes.com. N.p., 9 Mar. 2013. Web. 14 Apr. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/10/world/middleeast/anwar-alawlaki-a-us-citizen-in-americas-cross-hairs.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0>.
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Ott, Riki. "Citizens United-Legalizing the Wholesale Purchase of America‟s Elected Officials A A0." EcoWatch Cutting Edge Environmental News Service. N.p., 25 Sept. 2012. Web. 24 Apr. 2013. <http://ecowatch.com/2012/purchase-elected-officials/>. P, A. F. "US Senator Says 4,700 Killed in US Drone Strikes." Nation.co.ke. N.p., 21 Feb. 2013. Web. 15 Apr. 2013. <http://www.nation.co.ke/News/world/US-Senator-says-4700-killed-in-US-dronestrikes/-/1068/1700174/-/item/0/-/1grwek/-/index.html>. Smithson, S. "Drones over U.S. Get OK by Congress." The Washingtion Times. N.p., 14 Feb. 2012. Web. 14 Apr. 2013. <http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/feb/7/coming-to-a-sky-nearyou/?page=all>. Stuart, Hunter. "Drone List Released By FAA Shows Which Police Departments Want To Fly Unmanned Aerial Vehicles." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 08 Feb. 2013. Web. 14 Apr. 2013. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/08/drone-list-domestic-police-lawenforcement-surveillance_n_2647530.html>. United States. Congress. Senate and House of Representatives. H.R 347. By John Boehner. Washington: n.p., 2012. Gpo.gov. 3 Jan. 2012. Web. 15 Apr. 2013. <http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS112hr347enr/pdf/BILLS-112hr347enr.pdf>. United States. Congress. Senate and House of Representatives. H.R 658. By John Boehner. Washington: n.p., 2012. Faa.gov. 14 Mar. 2012. Web. 15 Apr. 2013. <http://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/reauthorization/media/PLAW-112publ95[1].pdf>. United States. Congress. Senate and House of Representatives. National Defense Act of 2012. By John Boehner. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Gpo.gov. 5 Jan. 2011. Web. 15 Apr. 2013. <http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112hr1540enr/pdf/BILLS-112hr1540enr.pdf>.
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Uygur, Cenk. "The 3 Real Problems With Drone Strikes." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 07 Mar. 2013. Web. 15 Apr. 2013. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cenk-uygur/drone-strikesbarack-obama_b_2832172.html?utm_hp_ref=tw>.
