Secret panel can put Americans on "kill list'

Bad cases make bad law.

(Reuters) - American militants like Anwar al-Awlaki are placed on a kill or capture list by a secretive panel of senior government officials, which then informs the president of its decisions, according to officials.
There is no public record of the operations or decisions of the panel, which is a subset of the White House's National Security Council, several current and former officials said. Neither is there any law establishing its existence or setting out the rules by which it is supposed to operate.  http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/05/us-cia-killlist-idUSTRE79475C20111005

Awlaki is first hit for new drone base

By Greg Miller

Friday’s lethal strike on Anwar al-Aulaqi was carried out by a CIA drone operating from a new agency base on the Arabian peninsula, U.S. officials said. It marks the first time that the CIA has launched a drone strike in Yemen since 2002, and the first indication that the new base is operational.   http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/checkpoint-washington/post/aulaqi-first-hit-for-new-drone-base/2011/09/30/gIQASF4eAL_blog.html

When It Comes to State-Sanctioned Murder, Morality Matters Most

The recent extrajudicial killing of two American citizens, most notably radical Islamic cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, has spurred a curious debate over whether the action, personally ordered by President Barack Obama, was right or wrong — curious for its conspicuous focus not on whether assassinations are right or wrong, but on whether they are “legal” or not.
But law and morality are not the same thing.

(Aint it the truth!)   http://original.antiwar.com/charles-davis/2011/10/03/when-it-comes-to-state-sanctioned-murder-morality-matters-most/