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Subscribe to RSSAndrea Mitchell talks with Rachel Maddow about the breaking news that the Department of Justice, with the confirmation hearing for John Brennan to head the CIA looming, will share their legal reasoning for extrajudicial targeting of Americans with drone strikes with the intelligence committees in Congress.
Updated at 9:44 p.m. ET -- Reversing its course, the White House will now brief members of Congress on the legal justifications for drone strikes against U.S. citizens, an administration official said Wednesday night.
"Today, as part of the president's ongoing commitment to consult with Congress on national security matters, the president directed the Department of Justice to provide the congressional intelligence committees access to classified Office of Legal Counsel advice related to the subject of the Department of Justice White Paper," the official said.
The Justice Department paper, first obtained by NBC News, concluded that the United States can legally order the killing of American citizens believed to be al-Qaida leaders.
Until Wednesday, the administration would not even confirm these memos existed.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said in a statement Wednesday night she was pleased with the White House's decision.
"I am pleased that the president has agreed to provide the Intelligence Committee with access to the OLC opinion regarding the use of lethal force in counterterrorism operations. It is critical for the committee's oversight function to fully understand the legal basis for all intelligence and counterterrorism operations," Feinstein's statement read.
Earlier Wednesday, the Associated Press reported that White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama was engaged in an internal process deliberation to determine how to balance the nation's security needs with its values. He said Obama was committed to providing more information to Congress, even as he refused to acknowledge whether the drone memo even existed.
"He thinks that it is legitimate to ask questions about how we prosecute the war against al-Qaida," Carney said. "These are questions that will be with us long after he is president and long after the people who are in the seats that they're in now have left the scene."
Some legal experts warned that the secret memo threatened constitutional rights and dangerously expanded the definition of national self-defense and of what constitutes an imminent attack.
The administration’s decision to give the memo to the congressional intelligence committees comes a day before the Senate confirmation hearing Thursday for John Brennan, President Barack Obama’s pick to lead the CIA. Brennan was an architect of the administration’s controversial escalation of drone strikes to take out suspected militants.
Members of Congress have expressed serious reservations about the memo. On Wednesday, Rep. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. and a member of the House Intelligence Committee, told NBC News Radio that the memo “doesn’t answer the central questions” revolving around an important policy decision: "When does the government have the legal right to kill an American?"
"The administration has essentially been stonewalling the committee and myself and others for over two years by not actually making that memo available with someone willing to answer questions about it," Wyden said.
Related:
Wyden vows to 'pull out all the stops' to get 'actual legal analysis' on drones
Leave a Comment:
Barry! What are you doing buddy?! You're pulling another Bush! Look on the bright side; maybe he'll take out Glenn Beck.
IDIOT PUNK...just like a IDIOT condone killing...because you don't like what the say. IDIOT
These same people can not even draw up a budget. Now they can kill AMERICANS any where on the planet. Including here in the USA? In a strange sort of way "Bin Laden" has won. We are FLUSHING OUR BILL OF RIGHTS DOWN THE TOILET! I would dare to say the FOUNDING FATHERS are ROLLING OVER in their GRAVES. This president needs to be STRIPPED of his executive powers. He obviously does not know what he is doing.
Where's Julian Assange when you really need him?
I would like a little more inside information about this death paper.
Oh I forgot....he has a drone hovering over him these day's.
Wow, I don't know that I would trust this Congress with any classified information.
Better to trust Congress with classified information than the Obama administration. Do you remember the old saying "Loose lips sink ships?"
Well Obama's 'loose lips' got the bulk of Seal Team 6 killed and the doctor that gave information to us in prison.
It doesn't matter what any of you say.....this is what you voted for and the corrupt obama news ORG. NBC pushed for and all it's corrupt and biased news reporters like rachael maddow programmed you suckers to believe lies....so shut the frak up....you remind me of bart simpson...you put your finger in the wall socket and it hurts but you keep doing it.
5th Amendment,
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
AMU, where are you? Please somehow respond to WHY champagnesabre is wrong....Please...
YOU can't...as Killing ANY American in this way w/o Due Process is NOT an option, unless they are yielding a weapon of lethal capacity at the time.
the constitution is no longer relevant, Bush said so when he said it was "just a GD piece of paper", why do you think all this stuff is happening with blatant disregard for the constitution? If if was considered, we wouldn't be on the verge of a police state......if we're not already there and just to naive' to realize it.
http://rense.com/general69/paper.htm
Bush isn't president, Obama is.
Bush is responsible for Bush's presidency.
Obama is responsible for Obama's presidency.
Bush's failures and behavior don't justify Obama's failure and behavior.
When are you going to link to a paper on Obama's destruction of the Constitution?
Or, are you just a partisan hack?
I'm with you on the police state though, many people are ... we're already there.
I'm saying, NONE OF THEM give a rat's azz abt. the constitution, NONE OF THEM!!!! Obama is an immoral, ungodly man just like George W. is/was!!!!!
Agreed.
Champagne
Sorry darlin the 5th doesn't apply to "enemy combatants" thanks to Bushco. Read this from 2003: www.justice.gov/olc/docs/memo-combatantsoutsideunitedstates.pdf
Puppet -
The key word there is 'combatant' as in actively involved in combat (you know, shooting at you, planting a bomb, and the like). A 'suspected terrorist' is not a combatant in any way, shape, or form unless he is actually using weapons against the US; thus due process is required by law.
Amazing the talk on the internet these days. The Great Divider Obama.
Hes got the US talking civil war if this goes on!
How foolish those must feel how voted the second time. I can forgive anyone 1 mistake. but 2 in a row? CMON.
It requires morality, ethics, and intelligence to feel foolish after one makes a mistake. Tell me, how many Obama voters have these in sufficient quantity?
Again, Obama's "thought" process..."Dead Men Tell No Tales." Why interrogate, when you can BLOW them up.
Hmmm...sounds like something a terrorist would do...blow people up.
WOW, I wonder WHY Obama used that information that led to killing of Bin Laden, I mean...he's said clearly he is against Waterboarding, and that EIT strategy just is "bad"...let's KILL them, including Americans...
Who's first...Ted Nugent? Rush? Hannity? I mean, Obama has publically called them out for opposing him. Where does the LINE for terrorism go with someone? Sound strange....
Yeah, read up on the HISTORY of Hitler...see how strange it is...If you don't KNOW, READ up...see,
Ahhh ..jeeeze ...now the right is seeing drones in the sky overhead instead of the black helicopters ...
Why won't repubs let those in gitmo get a fair trial in the US
You must be blind.
Drones over U.S. get OK by Congress
"The agency projects that 30,000 drones could be in the nation’s skies by 2020."
washingtontimes dot com/news/2012/feb/7/coming-to-a-sky-near-you/
Amunaka...there can't be a Gitmo.....you must be mistaken. Obama promised to shut Gitmo down back in 2008!!
To..Champ""""
Not going to happen now ...The Moonie times they still out there...
To... Hope is gone """"
Thank the repubs for that .. and now their all for terrorists being tried on American soil good for them
@Amunaka.....the State Department shut down the office of the envoy to shut down Gitmo....you know, Hillary.....but, who are we kidding, Obama just issues an exec order for anything he wants done.....
To..Hope"""
Really ....why was that do you think
AMUNAKA, you give "selective" notes from Bush, but somehow OMIT the facts prior to that, don't you...That's just like a LIB defending this...and it's even more comical that you are attempting to call out Republicans for waterboarding terrorists, NOT Americans...duh, uh, duh...uh.
NOW...for some facts, but I doubt you care about those...
A: After USS COLE attack and first World Trade Center attacks, CIA informed Bill Clinton THREE times of the opportunity to KILL Osama Bin Laden...YOU must have just overlooked that fact, huh? CNN, Huffington and several other "RIGHT wing" papers reported this, Bill CLinton has ADMITTED it. 2 were confirmed as concrete and valid, the other was not as clear...BUT, fact is, Bill Clinton had TWO opportunities to KILL Bin Laden, Prior to 9/11 and he refused. Clinton has since admitted that THIS was the single biggest mistake of his 2 terms.
But...why bother with that, when you can blame the right and GWB, RIGHT?
To Jerry""""
What on earth are you going on about....
U.S. Was Foiled Multiple Times in Efforts To Capture Bin Laden or Have Him Killed
CIA Trained Pakistanis to Nab Terrorist But Military Coup Put an End to 1999 Plot
By Bob Woodward and Thomas E. Ricks
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, October 3, 2001;
In 1999, the CIA secretly trained and equipped approximately 60 commandos from the Pakistani intelligence agency to enter Afghanistan for the purpose of capturing or killing Osama bin Laden, according to people familiar with the operation.
The plan was set in motion less than 12 months after U.S. cruise missile strikes against bin Laden's training camps in Afghanistan that Clinton administration officials believe narrowly missed hitting the exiled Saudi militant. The clandestine operation was part of a more robust effort by the United States to get bin Laden than has been previously reported, including consideration of broader military action, such as massive bombing raids and Special Forces assaults.
It is a record of missed opportunities that has provided President Bush and his administration with some valuable lessons as well as a framework for action as they draw up plans for their own war against bin Laden and his al Qaeda network in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/18/AR2007111800629.html
Where is the fisted red SLUNT on this? Should she be here defending
President Oreo? Let's see, If people follow all the news Homeland
security buys TONS of bullets, the oreo president tries to take down the
2nd Amendment, colleges are seeking 1000's of student drone pilots
and now with the patriot act ANYONE can be declared a terrorist and
with drones we can kill ANYONE we want..........
Yep, I feel OK with the direction the USSA is going in.
"forward"
America is becoming the modern day Nazi Germany!
wow back up your minds and think , over a year old memo ,, and wait its time to break out the news now nbc, makes you start think , now think hard , think , wait now dont stop thinking yet , run it though you left side of your brain before you type,1 word terrorist 2nd word wow 3rd word news over a year ago , 4th wait vote shut up , 5th hell if i care they killed a terrorist that was conspareing with terrorist 6th year old news now, 7th wow year old news , at the time we got bin lauden the terrorist that planed and took out the twin towers ,as we was told by the news, who do you trust , man war is war , if a american joined the germans in ww2 would we have kissed him , or would he been shoot by fireing squade , if captured, i guess i dont under stand so i will go again ,
The individual would have been tried for treason, which is called for in the Constitution, as by law he is innocent until proven guilty. It is one thing to shoot a treasonous American on the battlefield as he is firing on you, quite another to do a pre-emptive strike against an American citizen (who is protected by the Constitution regardless of where he is) without the due process of a trial just because he may be a terrorist.
Answer to:
If you are a foreign terrorist, you have nothing to fear....due process you have earned.
If you are an American in a foreign country and have suspect terrorist behavior, beware Obama drone is coming to your neighborhood and kill you.
Now, let's say that it is very weird that Obama will spend MILLIONS$$$ to drone Americans abroad who are terrorist suspects while he will give a full trial to those murderers of the 9-11.
Why doesn't he drone GITMO.............which HE said HE would close??????????
Totally absurd, this President is not my President anymore, He is a TRAITOR.
we are trying to get out of the war , i think its time bring our troops home, we are tried of war, let just stop the home line fighting to , why not just say thats a nuff , people dont want to stop the war , i guess trying to bring it home, not a good idea , someone is , lets help them people rebuild , and the world will be a safer place,
What ever happened to all that "transparency" he campaigned about? Or does he think we're too stupid to know what transparency means? Probably the latter!!!! He needs to be impeached and yank Holder out with him. That's the CHANGE I HOPE for!!!!! Because it's really time out for his kind of hope & change, his kind is the equivalent to Bull----!!!!!!
Funny... Feinstein has become what her ancestors hated... A Nazi!
warpigs2, I hope you are right with your comments. However, it is easy to see that the real debacle started when our INEXPERIENCED President came to POWER.....and POWER he grabbed.
CULTURE STARTS AND COMES FROM THE TOP, so have a chat with HIS MAJESTY and see if he willing to tone it down and STOP DRONING Americans. He seems to have a COLOR issue with everything.
Will he have drone Timothy McVey?????????????????????
Makes me wonder who the real terrorists are. Are country is looking more like terrorists than Iran. We have more enemies now than any other time in history. I guess are terrorism blow back is going to haunt us.
Obama wants to kill Americans and you're worried about a bunch of scumbag Muslim terrorists?
To..roach"""
What...?
Amuk,
Why do you care about the Muslims in Gitmo?
To roach"""
Why do you care about treasonous Americans turned Muslim that want to kill you...
Amunaka,
So you support the murder of this alleged terrorist 16 yr old American son ? His death has been poopooed by Obama's minion saying its the fathers fault...ID say its Obama's fault,He dined the kids death warrant.
Seriously Obama is not a Savior,he is a threat to America and her people.
Let's see now President Bush was criticized for water boarding. These people that were water boarded never died. They gave in after while & sometimes gave out important info to the intel. Either way they were eventually given a trial, NOTE: a trial! in court. Now lets move on to our President that's taken upon him self to proclaimto be person of higher dominance. We can tell who's in the right & who's in the wrong, even with time & observation, a so called suspicion that falls into certain criteria. These suspicious people can be in the cross hairs & blown to bits mmmmm Now our government wants to have drones in use here in the US for their own observations. For some reason our government thinks we are on the paranoid side? JUDGE JURY HANGMAN all rolled into one ( just doesn't get any better than that)
.....Obama has made the whole world hate us!!
To Hope?"""
wasn't Obama that done that ...
pull up pictures of ww2 and look at them, best yet watch the movie, saving Private Riane '''
just in case you all for get what war is like.
I do not care WHO is president.
If you are an enemy of the US, you are to be captured, tried and if that is not possible killed, BY ANY MEANS.
All of you pusscuits can just sit back and whine.
i am out , and when you go to the store , you can thank my pop and my pops bro and my family and allot of others,my boss that was in ww2 that was a mine sweeper diver, that fought in wars to keep us all safe here and keep america free, as my cussain swim under fire at pearl harbor as the japanese attacked us, and now we watch jets fly in to our buildings , we watched ,
Sorry but I can't help but think most of you Barry haters would be singing the praises of this plan if Bush or Romney was in the WH. But that's ok really because the libs sounded just like YOU 10 years ago with one critical difference: they were ready to leave and you guys are planning for some crazy azzed civil war. Scared and angry must be a terrible way to live.
Tell ya what, when they drone strike Rush and Alex Jones and you guys disappear off these boards then I'll get worried. Until then I believe we aren't that far gone yet. This isn't any worse than Patriot Act (not that it was great), no American that wasn't a terrorist has died from it and until one does you guys are blowing smoke. Or smoking blow or something like that! Peace!
Barry is a footnote.
He does nothing on policies because a president can't.
All he is is a figurehead for dumb asses to worship.
He is supposed to be the hood ornament for America.
He looks like a Yugo ornament right now.
Hey you may be right... If you want the real conspiracy look up Bohemian Grove.
What are the gopers all worried about? Remember the warrentless phone taps when Bush put in the Patriot Act and them saying "If you aren't a terrorist, there is nothing to worry about".
So
Don't worry about a drone, If you aren't a terrorist, there is nothing to worry about, they won't fire a missile on you.
When a foreign power sends drones into the US, to kill one of theirs, living in the US, then we will have an idea of what we are doing to others.
Enjoy our supremacy, whilst we have it, but other nations will have drones, sooner or later and it will be our turn to wail and weep.
So many shortsighted people playing politics on here, need to raise their eyes and see the future, its only on the horizon...