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The U.S. government says it has "credible information that indicates Russian forces are creating lists of identified Ukrainians to be killed or sent to camps following a military occupation."
Archbishop Desmond Tutu objects to Obama's kill lists.
Good times; some highlights of the Catch-22s of the Kill List (how you can get on, but never sue yourself off) as detailed by Michael Dorf.
In their public defenses of the targeted killing program, government spokespersons have argued that substantial safeguards are in place within the executive branch. At the same time, however, the government has resisted Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests about the details of the program, with considerable success. For example, last month, the government won a motion to dismiss a FOIA lawsuit. Even as Judge McMahon ruled in the government's favor, she lamented:
The Alice–in–Wonderland nature of this pronouncement is not lost on me; but after careful and extensive consideration, I find myself stuck in a paradoxical situation in which I cannot solve a problem because of contradictory constraints and rules—a veritable Catch–22. I can find no way around the thicket of laws and precedents that effectively allow the Executive Branch of our Government to proclaim as perfectly lawful certain actions that seem on their face incompatible with our Constitution and laws, while keeping the reasons for its conclusion a secret. But under the law as I understand it to have developed, the Government's motion for summary judgment must be granted, and the cross-motions by the ACLU and the Times denied
...
Thus, for particular individuals, there continues to be a Catch-22, albeit a procedural one. Suppose you think that the executive branch procedures for formulating the kill list either have or potentially will have the effect of wrongly putting you on the kill list. Suppose further that you think the government is wrong about judicial oversight: you think that due process requires, at the very least, that a court should get to examine the executive procedures to determine whether they are adequate. Can you sue? In other words, do you have standing to go into court to make the argument that a court should get to review kill-list procedures? Surely you have the right to go to court to test whether you can go to court, right? Probably not. Consider the case of Anwar al-Aulaqi. When word emerged that he was on the kill list, his father attempted to sue to enjoin the President from killing him. The federal district court rejected the lawsuit on jurisdictional grounds, finding, among other things, that al-Aulaqi pere lacked standing to represent his son's interests. Less than a year later, the government killed al-Aulaqi fils in a drone strike.
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But suppose someone who thinks he may be on the kill list because of a terrible misunderstanding (a case of mistaken identity, perhaps). Does such a person have standing? Again, probably not, because my hypothetical kill list challenger will likely have a very difficult time showing that he is on the kill list.
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Accordingly, there is good reason to think that no one will be held to have standing to challenge the kill list procedures.
(Acronym TV via The Real News/YT) "MLK Would Be Ashamed"- David Swanson Interview
David Swanson is the author of the introduction to "The 35 Articles of Impeachment and the Case for Prosecuting George W. Bush" published by Feral House. Swanson holds a master's degree in philosophy from the University of Virginia. He has worked as a newspaper reporter and as a communications director, with jobs including press secretary for Dennis Kucinich's 2004 presidential campaign, media coordinator for the International Labor Communications Association, and three years as communications coordinator for ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. Swanson is Co-Founder of AfterDowningStreet.org, creator of ConvictBushCheney.org and Washington Director of Democrats.com, a board member of Progressive Democrats of America, the Backbone Campaign, and Voters for Peace, and a member of the legislative working group of United for Peace and Justice.
Obama: Under surveillance
As warrantless electronic surveillance in the US surges, how far have civil liberties been eroded under the president?
On Monday, the US Supreme Court is hearing a challenge to the government's controversial wiretapping programme, a policy that gives the government unprecedented power to intercept communications - and which has seen thousands of US citizens secretly monitored [...]
It has been brought by a group of attorneys, journalists and human rights organisations.
Following the 9/11 attacks, George W Bush, the then US president, secretly expanded the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to allow the government to eavesdrop on individuals without obtaining a warrant.
It became law in 2008 after getting the approval of the US Congress.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union, the programme has expanded under Barack Obama.
His administration argues that the surveillance powers help prevent further attacks on US citizens [...]
Despite promising that his presidency would move away from the policies of his predecessor, many campaigners say the opposite has happened - pointing to the expansion of the Patriot Act, drone strikes and increased powers of detention as evidence of an erosion of civil liberties under Obama's watch.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) report that under Obama there has been a dramatic increase in warrantless electronic surveillance. They say that between 2009 and 2011 the number of people subjected to telephone wiretapping has at least doubled.
There was also a 361 per cent increase in the number of Justice Department authorisations for email surveillance in the same time period. And in 2011, mobile phone companies received 1.3 million demands for subscriber information.
So, what is Obama's position on civil liberties? [...]
OBAMA'S CIVIL LIBERTIES RECORD:
When he took office, Obama said he would close the Guantanamo Bay detention centre, a promise he has so far failed to keep
At the end of 2011, Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act which codified indefinite military detention without charge or trial into law for the first time in American history
The Obama administration has increased the frequency of drone strikes
The president personally authorises assassinations from what have been termed 'kill lists'
Al Jazeera
