Anwar Al-Awlaki was a jihadist who clearly had to be dealt with. Al-Awlaki was also an American citizen, killed by his own government without due process. With his death, he gained a terrible victory: proving that we as a nation are not in fact a nation of laws, but of men. No matter how reprehensible he was, this was not the proper–or legal–mechanism by which to deal with him. We owed him personally nothing; we owed ourselves dealing with him legally, abiding by our own consensus rules for governing.
If you approve of the killing of Al-Awlaki without the due process he was guaranteed under the Constitution, ask yourself if you would like to see, say, Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin, Dennis Kucinich, or anyone else whose politics you might despise claiming the right to kill any American citizen they decide to declare a terrorist. This is dangerous territory which we should not enter. The cost to the nation is too high.
It wasn’t okay for Bush to declare powers of the kind only held by dictators, and it’s not okay for Obama to do it, either. I won’t hold my breath for the backlash of concerned citizens. Better to expect the cheering.
