Almost a century ago, German sociologist Max Weber declared that a government is constituted by its monopoly on the legitimate use of force. While it may have seemed appropriate for his time, situated as he was between two devastating world wars, today his statement seems like a vast oversimplification. However, President Barack Obama’s use of no-longer-secret drones in the Middle East seems like it finds its justification straight from Weber’s Politics as a Vocation. The crux of the Obama administration’s argument is that the government – not the military – may target people for assassination by drone strike if there is reason to believe he or she may be a terrorist. Attorney General Eric Holder’s definition of due process seems to stretch the bounds of the Constitution as far as can be, such that every United States citizen ought to be concerned about the Obama administration’s “legitimate use of force” when it comes to the very people the President is supposed to be defending. The fact is that, constitutionally or otherwise, the U.S. government has the power to order the killing of American citizens, and this has been demonstrated at least twice during Obama’s time in office.
In the fall of 2011, Anwar Al-Awlaki and his son Abdulraman were killed in two separate drone strikes in Yemen. Even if we concede that Anwar Al-Awlaki, an American citizen, was indeed involved with al Qaeda and therefore deserved to be killed, there is no reason his son, only 16 at the time of his death, deserved to die. Some government officials claimed Abdulraman was merely an unfortunate bystander. However, when asked about his death, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs declared that Abdulraman should have “had a more responsible father.” That is to say, according to the Obama administration, it is perfectly constitutional for an American child to die for the sins of his father.
Granted, this all happened more than one year ago. It ought to be water under the bridge by now, right? Such would be the case had Obama not authorized an unprecedented amount of drone strikes in his first term alone and in the least transparent way possible. The administration has not offered any explanation as to the process of deciding who is targeted other than describing people who pose an “imminent threat of violent attack against the United States” (per the memo released by the Department of Justice last week). In other words, it is perfectly fine to kill someone preemptively to stop them from carrying out a crime they may or may not commit.
That being said, it was the height of irony when President Obama announced in his Tuesday State of the Union address that the United States “will continue to take action against terrorists who pose the greatest threat to Americans.”
If Obama intends to follow through on his word, he ought to “take action” against himself and his own administration. Later on in the speech, the President criticized “the Syrian regime that has murdered its own people.” While no dictator tyrannically rules the United States, Bashar al-Assad is certainly not the only leader to have murdered his own people.
However, there was one ray of optimism in the President’s speech: He promised greater transparency when it comes to his highly controversial drone policy. If nothing else, the American people should hope that Obama makes good on this promise.
Even if we ignore the fact that the drone program has been used to target people protected by the U.S. Constitution, no single policy does more to hurt the image of America in other countries. Imagine, for example, if Chinese drones began patrolling Texas and Arizona to bomb suspected members of Mexican drug cartels, but ended up killing civilians most of the time. Needless to say, the backlash would be massive and so it is in countries like Pakistan where America’s drone program is most active.
Now is the time for Americans to speak up about this deeply concerning issue. There is every indication that the drone program will escalate: John Brennan, the man who was largely the architect for the program, is slated to become the next director of the CIA. If the idea of the American government targeting its own citizens for assassination is not problematic enough, the idea of America’s image abroad ought to be compelling.
Obama is setting a dangerous precedent with his unhesitant use of drones and everyone should be opposed to this policy for the rights of Americans and people all over the world.
William Hupp is a College sophomore from Little Rock, Ark.
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