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Sen. Rand Paul - The Washington Times - Google Groups
Sen. Rand Paul - The Washington Times - Google Groups
3/14/13 3:56 PM
3/14/13 3:56 PM
distinctly American is our belief in adjudicated justice. Because what the terrorists wish to destroy is exactly that freedom. Moreover, a few weeks after we killed al-Awlaki, we killed his 16-year-old son with a drone strike. Can a 16-year-old be a terrorist or a traitor? Absolutely, but am I the only American who believes that this 16-year-old also deserved the contemplation of a jury and a judge? The president is a politician. He is a politician from a party opposite mine, but my opposition to his drone killing is an opposition to any politician, Republican or Democrat, becoming an imperial executioner-in-chief. No politician should ever be granted that power. The Constitution provides for handling traitors. In fact, treason is one of four crimes that are truly federal under the Constitution. I have no sympathy for Americans who denounce their country denounce their citizenship to fight against us. Similarly, I have no sympathy for murderers and rapists within the United States. I do, however, insist that the murderers and rapists we punish be guilty and found guilty by a jury and a judge. Why? Why can we not just kill Americans who dissent? For one, because our government has already shown recklessness in defining who is a terrorist. Fusion centers in Missouri defined pro-life and proborder-security hawks as potential terrorists. The Department of Justice produced a list of characteristics of terrorists that we should report to the government: people missing fingers; people whove changed the color of their hair; people who like to pay in cash; people who have more than seven days of food; and people who buy weatherized ammunition. Mr. Obamas pick for drone-killer-in-chief, John O. Brennan, says the 2001 authorization for military force after Sept. 11 authorizes him to kill American citizens, and it does not contain a geographical limitation. No geographical limitation? Our border, one would hope, is a geographical limitation that would limit drone strikes. Will anyone on the committee ask such an impertinent but necessary question? Do I think Mr. Brennan or Mr. Obama are bad men who would kill innocent Americans for their political beliefs? No. Yet James Madison warned that governments power should be limited, because we cant guarantee that government will always be comprised of angels. We separated the police power from the judicial power for a very important reason. We didnt want policemen to accuse, charge, arrest, convict and punish. Jurisprudence since the time of Morgan of Glamorgan, Prince of Wales, in 725 A.D., has wished to have separate judicial review of accusations to check the power of the king. Certainly, if history has warned that police power should be separated from judicial power, history would be appalled at politicians accusing (not charging, not arresting and not convicting) and going straight to killing American citizens without so much as a passing thought to the idea of consulting a judge or a jury. Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican, is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Homeland Security committees.
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3/14/13 3:56 PM
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