Holder: Law gives 'clear authority' to kill US citizens overseas.

Holder: Law gives 'clear authority' to kill US citizens overseas.(Fox).CHICAGO -- US Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday gave the Obama administration's most high-profile account to date of its legal rationale for targeting US citizen terrorists abroad.
The administration had barely acknowledged its so-called targeted killing program, which allowed the US to kill Anwar al Awlaki, a New Mexican-born radical Muslim cleric, in a drone strike in Yemen last year.Civil liberties advocates applauded the push toward greater transparency in the controversial policy, but remained skeptical about its bounds and urged the government to release more details about the program for public debate.
In a lengthy speech at Northwestern University Law School in Chicago, Holder said, "It may not always be feasible to capture a United States citizen terrorist who presents an imminent threat of violent attack.""In that case, our government has the clear authority to defend the United States with lethal force," he added.
Though the administration did not make public any formal charges against Awlaki, US intelligence officials believe he was linked to a US army major charged with shooting dead 13 people in Fort Hood, Texas, and to a Nigerian student accused of trying to blow up a US airliner on Dec. 25, 2009.
Holder said Monday he was not permitted to discuss "any particular program or operation" and never mentioned Awlaki by name. He simply stated, "I believe it is important to explain these legal principles publicly."His speech did little to allay the concerns of civil liberty advocates, however, who are urging the administration to make public its legal framework for justifying such killings."Due process and judicial process are not one and the same, particularly when it comes to national security," says Holder. "The Constitution guarantees due process, not judicial process." cbsnews.com
Before the attorney general's speech, snippets of information on the targeted killing program usually entered the public sphere through media reports, usually citing anonymous or low-level officials.
In a rare move, Jeh Johnson, the Pentagon general counsel, defended the targeted killings as a legitimate weapon of war in front of audience of law students last month at Yale University.
The complete rationale is apparently contained in a classified Department of Justice memo. Peter Scheer, of the First Amendment Coalition, is demanding in a lawsuit that the DOJ make public a redacted version of the justification.Scheer told NewsCore that Holder's speech was a "good start in what I hope is a continuing public debate about this murky area of the law," but felt it ultimately left many questions unanswered.Hmmmm......Hi i'm from the U.S. Gov, I'm your accuser, your judge, your jury and your executioner, all in one - what more due process do you want? "Read the full story here.