Green Energy
Washington Examiner:
Pelosi: Obama can keep drone strikes against Americans a secret
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., believes that President Obama doesn’t necessarily have to announce that an American citizen suspected of terrorism has been killed in a drone strike.
“Maybe. It just depends,” Pelosi replied when The Huffington Post asked her if “the administration should acknowledge when it targets a U.S. citizen in a drone strike.” When Anwar al-Awlaki was killed in a drone strike, President Obama announced the killing within hours. “People just want to be protected,” Pelosi also said. “And I saw that when we were fighting them on surveillance, the domestic surveillance. People just want to be protected: ‘You go out there and do it. I’ll criticize you, but I want to be protected.’”
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, responded less blithely. “Anytime the government willfully executes a citizen, regardless of the circumstances, it is a very serious issue,” Lee, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a statement to The Washington Examiner. “As the body that oversees executive branch actions, at the very least, Congress should have a full accounting – even if it must sometimes be in a classified setting – of the specific considerations that went into the decision.”
The top House Democrat suggested that the disclosure issue “depends on the timing, because that’s right — it’s all about timing, imminence. What is it that could be in jeopardy if people know that happened at this time? I just don’t know.”
Lee also acknowledged the possibility of some situations that might call for secrecy, though he emphasized the need for congressional review. “Government should always err on the side of greater transparency and make details public where they can,” he said in his statement. “Where there are limited and serious national security concerns about releasing certain details, the appropriate committees in Congress should have the opportunity to perform oversight.”
Pelosi suggested that she would have the same position if President George W. Bush were still in office. “Those opposed are pretty critical, and other people are just listening to see what this is and why this is necessary, because we’re in a different world,” she told HuffPo.
Lee wants Obama to reveal the Justice Department legal analysis underpinning the drone program to the Judiciary Committee, rather than just the intelligence committees in both chambers of Congress.
“If you’re going to regard somebody as presenting an imminent threat of an attack on the U.S. simply because you have concluded that they are an ‘operational leader’ or they are involved in planning an attack in one way or another, you find yourself giving way to much discretion to the government,” he told The Examiner in an interview after NBC revealed the DOJ white paper on the drone program.
“We know that in some instances where the government has released its legal analysis, it gets it wrong,” Lee added.
- Yet Another Shoe Drops
but they won't say why Fox: Obama administration acknowledges drone strikes killed 4 Americans since 2009 Four American citizens have been killed in counter-terrorism drone strikes since 2009, the Obama administration acknowledged for the first time...
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- Pelosi Accuses Cia Of 'misleading' Her On Interrogations
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- What A Bitch. . .
Pelosi: We doan haz to 'splain nuttin' to you pee-ons, so piss off. from The Hill's Blog Briefing Room h/t Ace: Pelosi: now we don't have to 'explain process' @ 7:44 pm by Eric Zimmermann Sen. Arlen Specter's decision to switch...
Green Energy
Washington Examiner:
Pelosi: Obama can keep drone strikes against Americans a secret
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., believes that President Obama doesn’t necessarily have to announce that an American citizen suspected of terrorism has been killed in a drone strike.
“Maybe. It just depends,” Pelosi replied when The Huffington Post asked her if “the administration should acknowledge when it targets a U.S. citizen in a drone strike.” When Anwar al-Awlaki was killed in a drone strike, President Obama announced the killing within hours. “People just want to be protected,” Pelosi also said. “And I saw that when we were fighting them on surveillance, the domestic surveillance. People just want to be protected: ‘You go out there and do it. I’ll criticize you, but I want to be protected.’”
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, responded less blithely. “Anytime the government willfully executes a citizen, regardless of the circumstances, it is a very serious issue,” Lee, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a statement to The Washington Examiner. “As the body that oversees executive branch actions, at the very least, Congress should have a full accounting – even if it must sometimes be in a classified setting – of the specific considerations that went into the decision.”
The top House Democrat suggested that the disclosure issue “depends on the timing, because that’s right — it’s all about timing, imminence. What is it that could be in jeopardy if people know that happened at this time? I just don’t know.”
Lee also acknowledged the possibility of some situations that might call for secrecy, though he emphasized the need for congressional review. “Government should always err on the side of greater transparency and make details public where they can,” he said in his statement. “Where there are limited and serious national security concerns about releasing certain details, the appropriate committees in Congress should have the opportunity to perform oversight.”
Pelosi suggested that she would have the same position if President George W. Bush were still in office. “Those opposed are pretty critical, and other people are just listening to see what this is and why this is necessary, because we’re in a different world,” she told HuffPo.
Lee wants Obama to reveal the Justice Department legal analysis underpinning the drone program to the Judiciary Committee, rather than just the intelligence committees in both chambers of Congress.
“If you’re going to regard somebody as presenting an imminent threat of an attack on the U.S. simply because you have concluded that they are an ‘operational leader’ or they are involved in planning an attack in one way or another, you find yourself giving way to much discretion to the government,” he told The Examiner in an interview after NBC revealed the DOJ white paper on the drone program.
“We know that in some instances where the government has released its legal analysis, it gets it wrong,” Lee added.
- Yet Another Shoe Drops
but they won't say why Fox: Obama administration acknowledges drone strikes killed 4 Americans since 2009 Four American citizens have been killed in counter-terrorism drone strikes since 2009, the Obama administration acknowledged for the first time...
- Pelosi Is A Saint
swiped this from Christian Soldier: On a Saturday afternoon, in Washington, D. C., an aide to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the Bishop of the Catholic cathedral in D.C. He told the Cardinal that Nancy Pelosi would be attending the next day's...
- Evidence For: Too Much Massage Can Kill You
Story covered by AFP news. I have no idea who AFP is. Anyway... Mehsud killed while getting 'leg massage': report. WASHINGTON — Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud was killed last week in a CIA drone attack while getting a leg massage on the roof...
- Pelosi Accuses Cia Of 'misleading' Her On Interrogations
What a lyin' sack of shit. Backed into a corner and of course she's going to point the finger elsewhere. Washington Post: Pelosi Accuses CIA of 'Misleading' Her on Interrogations By Paul KaneHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi today accused the...
- What A Bitch. . .
Pelosi: We doan haz to 'splain nuttin' to you pee-ons, so piss off. from The Hill's Blog Briefing Room h/t Ace: Pelosi: now we don't have to 'explain process' @ 7:44 pm by Eric Zimmermann Sen. Arlen Specter's decision to switch...