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Subscribe to RSSMANCHESTER NH -- Ron Paul aggressively criticized President Obama today for al-Awlaki's death.
"No I don't think that's a good way to deal with our problems," Paul said in a media avail after his remarks at the Politics + Eggs event here. "He was born here, Al-Awlaki was born here, he is an American citizen. He was never tried or charged for any crimes. No one knows if he killed anybody. We know he might have been associated with the underwear bomber. But if the American people accept this blindly and casually that we now have an accepted practice of the president assassinating people who he thinks are bad guys, I think it's sad.
"I think what would people ... have said about Timothy McVeigh? We didn't assassinate him, who certainly he had done it. Went and put through the courts then executed him. To start assassinating American citizens without charges, we should think very seriously about this."
Does he feel the same about Bin Laden? "
Not exactly. "Because he was involved in 9/11 and I voted for authority to go after those individuals responsible for 9/11," Paul said. "Al-Awlaki nobody ever suggested that he was participant in 9/11."
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Ron - you just killed your chances of getting to the White House. You sure as hell lost my vote, not that you were going to get it. Seems like a vote for you is a vote for being Politically Correct with terrorists. Are you really that nuts?
I am a self-proclaimed flaming Liberal who thinks our duly-elected Commander-In-Chief is doing a superb job at maximizing military objectives while minimizing combat deaths and waste of our National Treasury.
Screw you Ron Paul. This isn't a legal proceeding, it's a war. He was a legitimate military target.
I agree with you Jennifer, New York...if we(Native Americans) had done that 300 years ago, we wouldn't have been overrun by terrorists. Hahahah, I have read most of all the mosts and I am still amazed at the amount of ignorance of the American population. The Americans are seen by the rest of the world as the biggest hypocrites that ever lived. They have the audacity to say that anybody that kills their own people should be taken out e.i. Saddam. But they fail to acknowledge that for over 200 years they systematically killed/executed/destroyed an entire race of people in a country they "invaded". they say Saddam killed somewhere between 100,000 to 1 million of his own people, this US Govt killed in excess of 10 million of the indigenous people of a country they invaded. Now you know why every other country knows that you are the most hypocritical people who ever existed!!!
Yes, Big Daddy. White man bad. Move on.
We Americans are just one in a long line of civilizations that wiped another off the face of the Earth. We weren't the first, and we won't be the last.
You should know from your own history that it was quite comment for American Indian tribes to fight and annihilate other cultures. The Aztecs did it. The Iroquois did it, and thousands before them. It's a regretable part of our human make up that we ALL have to deal with.
You people need to get on with living.
For all who are saying that this is not due process...or not right, have you been to Iraq or Afgahnistan? Have you personally lost a husband/wife, mother/father, son/daughter due to terrorist actions? You may want to think twice about all the political BS when it comes to taking out one of the biggest leaders and supporters of terrorism! And for Ron Paul, i'm fairly certain that he does not know what al-Awiaki has all been involved in. Last time I checked, the CIA and special operations tend to keep that information to themselves!
Yes. And the CIA keep information on many Americans too, just because they disagree with US global policies. It is a police state and Americans, like the Germans under Hitler, are to ignorant to figure it out.
Ron Paul, as far as I am concerned, you have your head on backwards. I hope beyond hope the voters have enough sense NOT to vote for you.
Actually, Ron Paul is correct. If it happens over there it can happen here. The United States is lossing that "shining city on the hill" that Republicans like to repeat putting heart over mind.
Well, I won't be voting for Ron Paul in 2012 or any other year! Imagine if we had done this drone campaign back in 2003, instead of invading Iraq, how much farther along we'd be in eliminating Al-Quida and similar organizations? To hell with Ron Paul and to hell with George W. Bush.
Ron Paul you have just lost any chance of my vote! Al-Awaki is part of an organization that has declared war "Jihad" on us. Not just with 9/11 but with other incidents in which people have been killed as well. He was instrumental in helping the 9/11 hijackers, he is tied to Hassan, the underwear bomber and has spoken out against our country, the USA, on many occasions. He is a traitor, a murderer and an enemy combatant. His sentence of death just happened to be carryed out somewhat on his terms.
Liberals hate the death penalty, are okay with abortion.
Conservatives - against abortion, okay with the death penalty.
Obama plays both sides of the fence though like for instance giving GITMO detainees trials in the U.S. as to be fair with them and they aren't legal citizens even, yet he allows the killing of U.S. citizens abroad.
I think they did the right thing this time, however I wanted to point out the Hypocrisy of Obama also.
Well for all you wing nuts.Mitt is the one.Cause all the rest of your heros have shot themselves in the foot.Or the old saying goes put thier feet in thier mouths.Stupidity seems to runs rampant in the right for right now.(smirk)
I can’t believe how stupid this guy Ron Paul is. He’s a world class airhead. How can he not see that we would all be evaporated in nuclear ashes if he was the president waiting for this other guy Awlaki to do his next terrorist act and hopefully be arrested and tried for it first? My God this guy is a dangerous candidate. It would be like handing over our fate in millions to another famous Fool on the Hill.
Yes, the rule of law is such an impediment to world peace. Al-Alwaki gave up is rights as an American Citizen when he moved to Yemen, and adopted Islam. No, wait... He gave up his rights as an Amercian Citizen when he grew a beard. No, when he expressed sympathy for jihadists! That's it! Let's assassinate everyone who A) Adopts Islam; B) Grows a beard; and C) Expresses support for jihadists!
Citizenship, schmitizenship!
And for those who lack the complicating detail of American Citizenship, let's just nuke 'em all!
This is America and Ron Paul has a right to make his personal comments. Unfortunately, the Republican Party believes in justice without due process as in GITMO, secret detention and torture as practiced and bragged about by Cheney.
Due process is what we hope happens when someone is brought to trial in America. The terrorists are smart enough not to come here so who do we get them to stop being terrorists short of killing them?
The terrorists say they are at war with America. The terrorists kill our citizens and soldiers with no remorse. I think that killing the terrorists is a necessary evil, just like all the executions in Texas.
The world does not follow our rules nor is life fair. Those that kill, in the name of religion, are still killers and must be treated as such.
Uh Ron, since when do we have to try in courts people we are at war with? By his logic, all conferadate dead should have been tried in court. This man, like most of the GOP field is an idiot, get rid of FEMA and let the states handle disasters ? Ron, go away ....
Ron Paul really doesn't want to be president does he. It's amazing that he's running alongside the t-party and spouting this gibberish. What is this guy, an anarchist?
I guess I can see where Paul is coming from, but it's a delicate situation. On one hand you have the fact that Al Awlaki was murderous zealot and that he was an enemy, but you have on the other hand he was an American citizen and is supposed to be entitled to due process. Just cause we feel he didn't deserve a trial, doesn't mean he didn't. The justice system for American citizens isn't supposed to be based on feelings...of course that's with the assumption that our justice system isn't broken....but that's beside the point. We have the fact that we're glad the bastard is dead, probably, but we also have the question of was it really the correct way to go about removing him from the picture.
This is a WAR people! Are we supposed to stop and check ID's before shooting back? If an american citizen works for Al Qaida...snuff him!
this is exactly how we should have been handling terrorism since late 2001
an invasion of Afghanistan was in order but after Bush let Bin Ladin get away we really had no reason to be there for the real prize had moved to the neighboring country.
drone strikes on the hour, every hour chasing these scum to the far reaches of the planet and no soldiers lives in jeopardy. no trial, no gitmo, just a nice care package from the American people delivered via preditor drone out of the clear blue sky...kaboom..problem solved. threat eliminated. clear message sent
and Iraq NEVER needed to happen except Rove and Rumsfeld (1) understood that Afghanistan would be a boring war and Iraq would remain in the headlines long enough to get little Georgie boy re-elected.
***************************************************************************
1. early as Sept. 12, 2001, Richard Clarke says, Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld urged bombing Iraq despite repeated assurances from intelligence
officials that the threat emanated from Afghanistan.
"Rumsfeld said there aren't any good targets in
Afghanistan. And there are lots of good targets in Iraq,"
We never declared war on Afghanistan, or a terrorist organization for that matter. This should be handled through international "police" action. The military actions Bush got us into (the longest in US hisotry - if you don't count Reagan's secret war in Central America) has cost ous trillions of dollars, thousands of US troops killed and hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis and Afghanis killed that has done nothing for our safety. The military industrial complex is a live and well in America - to protect corporate interests.
Maybe Ron Paul should have packed his bags and gone to Yemen with a battery of lawyers to fight for the terrorist's rights. The fact that he has been actively preaching death to Americans and active in the terrorist movement doesn't matter, to Ron Paul at least. That's right Ron Paul, give Al Awlaki a stage to wage war against the country he was born in. And, he wants to be president! Fooey!!!!
Ron Paul points out that an American citizen was just assassinated without the slightest pretense of due process, and he gets crticized for doing so! What about the rule of law?
I just love Republicans. If they do it, it's all wave the flag, salute the troops, play the Star Spangled Banner and show all how big their balls are. But give credit to Obama, who has ACTUALLY done something about hitting these scumbags and it's all hand-wringing and second guessing.
Nice try. The majority of the country is on to you guys. Keep it up, Mr. Obama. You don't just talk the talk you walk the walk. These GOP/TP pissants are terrified. All they have to offer is second-rate Bible Thumpers, ne're do wells, if not out right mental midgets and certifiable nut jobs.
This clown just happened to be hanging out next to the wrong crowd when the drone hit. Too bad. So sorry. maybe the reason Ron Paul is squeaking so much is the same reason Bush hurried the Bin Laden family out of the country right after 9/11. maybe he's connected somehow to this scum.
Ron Paul was feeling 'left out' of the political fray, and Fridays are usually slow news days. Ron, you
got your ink, now go back to sleep!
Anytime an American born 'citizen' plots to kill Americans, American laws do not apply! Castration is
appropriate!
Vietnam Veteran - 1967-1968
He was at the very minimum guilty of treason against his birth country and that carries the death penalty. Not our fault he would not come back to the US to face charges.