Someone’s Going To Demand Due Process For American ISIS Fighters and It’s Going To Be Super Annoying
This week, the White House confirmed that an American citizen named Douglas McAuthur McCain has been killed in Syria at the hands of the Free Syrian Army, apparently while fighting alongside ISIS.
The State Department says that there are “as many as 100” Americans fighting with various extremist groups in the region, including but not limited to ISIS. So although McCain was killed in fighting with the Free Syrian Army, it’s only a matter of time before a U.S. airstrike takes out one of these U.S. citizens, and only a matter of several more seconds before someone begins to complain loudly about the denial of their due process rights.
It might not be the same people, since folks like Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) aren’t exactly known for their consistency in this matter, but surely, someone will draw the same conclusions that were made about the killing of Anwar al Awlaki and Samir Khan, two U.S. citizens who were killed in a targeted drone strike. As the President and everyone else in the media never tire of reminding us, ISIS are terrorists, not a legitimate enemy fighting force, and so those 100 or so U.S. citizens, like Awlaki, are nothing more than terror suspects. Shouldn’t they be afforded the same high-decibel outrage that he was?
I’ve always had two major problems with the outrage surrounding the killing of Awlaki, the first being the premise that it’s not okay to kill him because he was born in New Mexico, but if he’d been popped out in Manitoba, all other things being equal, then kill away. If the idea is that we should’t kill him because he might be innocent, because he’s presumed innocent, then we shouldn’t be killing anyone in this manner.
But the second, most easily-solvable problem is that angst over drone strikes, right or left, is always used…READ MORE
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By: Tommy Christopher
Tommy Christopher is The Daily Banter's White House Correspondent and Political Analyst. He's been a political reporter and liberal commentator since 2007, and has covered the White House since the beginning of the Obama administration, first for PoliticsDaily, and then for Mediaite. Christopher is a frequent guest on a variety of television, radio, and online programs, and was the villain in the documentaries The Audacity of Democracy and Hating Breitbart. He's also That Guy Who Live-Tweeted His Own Heart Attack, and the only person to have ever received public apologies from both Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.
14 responses to Someone’s Going To Demand Due Process For American ISIS Fighters and It’s Going To Be Super Annoying
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granpa.usthai August 27th, 2014 at 14:48
when it comes to Citizenship rights, the US Constitution does present a problem once someone exits the country and picks up arms. Much like the mercenaries (those who fight for MONEY and now called contract workers). Does their citizenship end when they exit the country and pick up arms for the highest price?
If the US Citizen is in a foreign country fighting for whatever reason, they are still a US Citizen. If the Citizenship is upheld for those we like, then it must also be upheld for those we do not like.
Due to the total destruction of ‘rule of law’ in Nevada, the people can only suffer under whatever decisions the elite decide until the republic is no more – or until the people themselves reestablish ‘rule of law’.
edmeyer_able August 27th, 2014 at 22:04
IMO if a citizen picks up arms and fights against an ally they are committing treason and have forfeited all rights. One of the former citizens videoed himself burning his passport.
fahvel August 28th, 2014 at 02:38
who the hell are these flexible allies?
edmeyer_able August 29th, 2014 at 18:20
I’m speaking of members of NATO and other like organization w/whom we have signed like treaties.
Budda August 28th, 2014 at 10:18
Exactly.
fahvel August 28th, 2014 at 02:38
that word “elite” says it all – I look forward to your sober side along with your incredible ability to appear humorous but yet right there!!!!!!!!!!!!
granpa.usthai August 27th, 2014 at 14:48
when it comes to Citizenship rights, the US Constitution does present a problem once someone exits the country and picks up arms. Much like the mercenaries (those who fight for MONEY and now called contract workers). Does their citizenship end when they exit the country and pick up arms for the highest price?
If the US Citizen is in a foreign country fighting for whatever reason, they are still a US Citizen. If the Citizenship is upheld for those we like, then it must also be upheld for those we do not like.
Due to the total destruction of ‘rule of law’ in Nevada, the people can only suffer under whatever decisions the elite decide until the republic is no more – or until the people themselves reestablish ‘rule of law’.
edmeyer_able August 27th, 2014 at 22:04
IMO if a citizen picks up arms against an ally they are committing treason and have forfeited all rights. One of the former citizens videoed himself burning his passport.
fahvel August 28th, 2014 at 02:38
who the hell are these flexible allies?
edmeyer_able August 29th, 2014 at 18:20
I’m speaking of members of NATO and other like organization w/whom we have signed like treaties.
Budda August 28th, 2014 at 10:18
Exactly.
fahvel August 28th, 2014 at 02:38
that word “elite” says it all – I look forward to your sober side along with your incredible ability to appear humorous but yet right there!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tommy6860 August 27th, 2014 at 17:41
Yep, the wingers would cry for due process for an Islamist-Americans wanting to kill people who hold the same citizenship while they fight for a foreign terrorist organization. Yet at the same time, the same wing-nuts have no problem with militarized police going after peaceful protesters for Michael Brown’s due process of the law..
Tommy6860 August 27th, 2014 at 17:41
Yep, the wingers would cry for due process for Islamist-Americans wanting to kill people who hold the same citizenship while they fight for a foreign terrorist organization. Yet at the same time, the same wing-nuts have no problem with militarized police going after peaceful protesters for Michael Brown’s due process of the law..