[ti:The Debate Over Targeted Killings]
[ar:]
[al:IN THE NEWS]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]Go to 51voa.com for more...
[00:03.04]From VOA Learning English,
[00:06.34]this is IN THE NEWS in Special English.
[00:10.36]This week, NBC News reported on a document
[00:15.08]written by the Department of Justice
[00:17.90]on the policy of targeted killings of American terrorism suspects.
[00:23.94]The document is a "white paper" titled
[00:27.24]"Lawfulness of a Lethal Operation Directed Against a U.S. Citizen
[00:33.58]Who is a Senior Operational Leader of Al Qa'ida or An Associated Force. "
[00:40.78]In the memo, the Justice Department says
[00:44.47]using deadly force in a foreign country
[00:48.19]against a United States citizen
[00:50.77]would be lawful if three conditions are met.
[00:55.84]The first condition is that an informed,
[01:00.04]high-level official of the United States government
[01:03.55]has found that the targeted person presents
[01:07.85]an "imminent threat of violent attack against the United States."
[01:13.54]The second condition is that capturing the targeted person is not possible,
[01:21.27]and that the United States continues to monitor the possibility of capture.
[01:27.71]The third condition is that the operation would not violate the laws of war.
[01:35.09]The paper details the reasons and conditions
[01:39.82]that a targeted killing of a United States citizen overseas
[01:45.10]would be lawful under American and international law.
[01:50.76]The department also provides its reasons why these targeted killings
[01:57.54]would not violate the constitutional rights of American citizens.
[02:03.42]Some unmanned drone air strikes have targeted American citizens
[02:10.37]linked to al-Qaida, including Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan.
[02:18.03]They were killed in a drone strike in Yemen in September 2011.
[02:24.41]Neither man had been charged with crimes in the United States.
[02:29.63]The paper has resulted in criticism from lawmakers and human rights groups.
[02:37.30]Critics say it could be used to increase the president's power
[02:43.54]to use deadly force against suspected terrorists.
[02:48.55]Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon says
[02:53.15]he fears President Obama could be acting as judge, jury and executioner.
[03:00.72]"It is the idea of giving any president unfettered power
[03:04.77]to kill an American without checks and balances that is so troubling.
[03:10.55]Every American has the right to know when their government
[03:14.51]believes it is allowed to kill them."
[03:16.25]On Wednesday the Obama administration told the Justice Department
[03:21.23]to share classified documents on the issue
[03:25.34]with the intelligence committees in Congress.
[03:29.16]A group of senators sent President Obama a request to receive the documents.
[03:36.70]The shorter, unclassified white paper
[03:40.61]was released just before President Obama's nominee
[03:44.91]to lead the Central Intelligence Agency faced a confirmation hearing.
[03:50.94]John Brennan is currently the president's counterterrorism adviser.
[03:57.30]He has been an active supporter of permitting drone strikes
[04:02.59]against American citizens suspected of terrorist activities.
[04:08.13]Mr. Brennan defended the policy during his confirmation hearing Thursday
[04:13.55]before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
[04:16.77]He said the strikes were done only
[04:20.07]when no other method could work to protect the safety of Americans.
[04:26.47]He also said the government would rather capture terrorists
[04:32.19]in order to gather intelligence from them.
[04:35.32]"I never believe it is better to kill a terrorist than to detain him.
[04:39.03]We want to detain as many terrorists as possible
[04:42.11]so we can elicit intelligence from them
[04:43.60]in an appropriate manner and disrupt terrorist attacks."
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