The Secret Al-Awlaki Memo

The Washington Post reveals that the Obama Administration secured a legal opinion from the Justice Department stating that the president has the power to authorize a strike abroad to kill an American citizen who is believed to be a leadership figure in Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Drawing on this authority, President Obama authorized the strike that killed Anwar al-Awlaki and several others, including a second U.S. citizen, Samir Khan, the editor of AQAP’s web magazine, Inspire, on Friday morning. The major questions following al-Awlaki’s death are simple: Why has the Obama Administration failed to make public its rationale for the strike, including the considerations that led it to the conclusion that it can use lethal force against a U.S. citizen under such circumstances? And why has it kept the Justice Department memorandum a secret? I discussed these questions last night on RT: