Assassination Nation

Stop what you’re doing and read this.

Thanks to a new whistleblower within the intelligence community, referred to simply as, “The Source,” The Intercept just published “The Drone Papers,” detailing America’s counterproductive 14-year assassination program and its unconstitutional framework.

In the overview article for the series, Jeremy Scahill writes:

The “find, fix, finish” doctrine that has fueled America’s post-9/11 borderless war is being refined and institutionalized. Whether through the use of drones, night raids, or new platforms yet to be unleashed, these documents lay bare the normalization of assassination as a central component of U.S. counterterrorism policy.
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The series is intended to serve as a long-overdue public examination of the methods and outcomes of America’s assassination program. This campaign, carried out by two presidents through four presidential terms, has been shrouded in excessive secrecy. The public has a right to see these documents not only to engage in an informed debate about the future of U.S. wars, both overt and covert, but also to understand the circumstances under which the U.S. government arrogates to itself the right to sentence individuals to death without the established checks and balances of arrest, trial, and appeal.

In the series, Scahill highlights key revelations from the series:

• HOW THE PRESIDENT AUTHORIZES TARGETS FOR ASSASSINATION

• ASSASSINATIONS DEPEND ON UNRELIABLE INTELLIGENCE AND HURT INTELLIGENCE GATHERING

• STRIKES OFTEN KILL MANY MORE THAN THE INTENDED TARGET

• THE MILITARY LABELS UNKNOWN PEOPLE IT KILLS AS “ENEMIES KILLED IN ACTION”

• THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE TARGETED FOR DRONE STRIKES AND OTHER FINISHING OPERATIONS

• HOW GEOGRAPHY SHAPES THE ASSASSINATION CAMPAIGN

• INCONSISTENCIES WITH WHITE HOUSE STATEMENTS ABOUT TARGETED KILLING

For years, Campaign for Liberty has fought back against extrajudicial killings and the administration’s targeted assassination program (see here, here, here, and here, for further reference).

Several Americans have been killed by President Obama, including 16-year-old Abdulrahman al-Awlaki (the administration says he wasn’t the target of the strike, see third bullet point above).

Much of the program though has been deliberately shrouded in secrecy to stifle debate, despite this being the “Most Transparent Administration in History™.”

It appears the source has come forward now to provide Americans the opportunity to use facts and evidence to DEMAND our elected officials put an end to this practice — if, indeed, that’s what the American people actually want:

“This outrageous explosion of watchlisting — of monitoring people and racking and stacking them on lists, assigning them numbers, assigning them ‘baseball cards,’ assigning them death sentences without notice, on a worldwide battlefield — it was, from the very first instance, wrong,” the source said.

“We’re allowing this to happen. And by ‘we,’ I mean every American citizen who has access to this information now, but continues to do nothing about it.”

Now, the information is here. We have proof of what our Presidents are doing in our name. Will we do anything to demand change? Or will Americans simply turn a blind eye to the atrocities occurring in our name?

As C4L Chairman Ron Paul once said,

“We, as a group, now have a greater moral responsibility to act than those who live in ignorance. Once you become knowledgeable, you have an obligation to do something about it.”

It’s gut-check time. Now you know. Will you stand up and fight back?

If so, contact your representative and senators today at 202-224-3121 and DEMAND they call for an end to these overseas assassinations.