The truth about the assassination of Anwar Al Awlaki and Samir Khan

The assassination of Anwar Al Awlaki and Samir Khan should bother Americans. There has been no evidence brought forward to prove these men were involved in any crime, any terrorist plot, Al Awlaki’s actual position inside Al Qaeda is questionable, and Khan had no known position within Al Qaeda.

Anwar Al Awlaki, was he vocal against the United States? Yes, he was. Was he probably happy with the successes that terrorist groups had in their struggle against us? Yes, he probably was. Was he a bad man? Yes, he probably was. But that doesn’t mean his death was legal or correct. Do we want the government deciding which American citizens are bad people and then ordering their assassination?

There is nothing to indicate this man was anything more than a man using the internet to get his message or opinion out. Now the larger question is; did we take this man and make a martyr out of him?

This is just a case of where the US can claim a victory killing one of the few recognizable names left in Al Qaeda. They are not even mentioning Samir Khan’s name. Why aren’t they taking a victory lap on his killing? The US has linked Al Awlaki to the Fort Hood shooting (a charge Al Awlaki denied) and the underwear bomber, where is the evidence? Can we trust anything the government puts forth as evidence without getting to see it ourselves? The last time we did we ended up with tens of thousands of soldiers in Iraq. Where was Saddam’s yellow cake, his nuclear weapon, his weapons of mass destruction, his link to 9/11? Lies!

The media wants to forget him but we should not, Samir Khan was also killed, 25 year-old North Carolinian who just last year started a English-language jihadist magazine titled ”Inspire.”

The media has decided not to talk about this, what’s new? But the US killed two American citizens, not one. No charges against either man. A grand jury had been convened for Khan, but no charges levied. There is no evidence that Samir Khan was even on the capture or kill list.

The Department of Justice, the FBI, and the CIA have all been looking at Al Awlaki for years, and they never put forth a single formal charge against this man.

Where are the charges? Where is the evidence against these men?

Here is where Americans should be concerned. Since 9/11, the government has now seen fit to give itself the power to eavesdrop on American citizens without a warrant, to lock American citizens up indefinitely without charge, and now assassinate American citizens without formal charges being put forth or due process.

Those are not the actions of a democracy but of a dictatorship.