Barbara Lee questions Obama’s authority in drone attacks
Rep. Barbara Lee, an Oakland Democrat and one of President Obama’s earliest and most ardent supporters, is gathering signatures for a letter asking the administration to clarify under what authority it justifies drone attacks on U.S. citizens viewed as terrorists, other targeted assassinations and other policies the administration has carried over from the Bush administration.
(Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, has just released CIA nominee John Brennan’s responses to written questions here and especially here.)
The administration appears, on the basis of a leaked memo, to be basing its actions on Congress’sauthorization for use of military force against terrorists, passed overwhelmingly after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.
Lee was the only member of either the House or the Senate to vote against that resolution, on the grounds that it granted overly broad authority to the president. That authority has been used, according to Lee’s rough count, about 40 times during both the Bush and the Obama administrations, for military tribunals, warrantless electronic surveillance and other issues questioned by civil libertarians.
“I voted against it for this exact reason,” Lee said. “It was a blank check” to any president.
Lee said the memo is so vague that it is hard to say what authority, constitutional or otherwise, the administration is relying on, “but it is part of overly broad powers and authorities that were granted as result of overly broad resolution that was passed,” she said.
Lee is trying to repeal the original authorization of the use of force, but stands little chance of success. “My position has always been that we have to repeal this blank check that was given as a result of the horrific events of 911, to end this state of perpetual war,” Lee said.
Lee wants Congress to exercise its oversight authority. A handful of liberal Democrats, along with one anti-war Republican, Walter Jones of North Carolina, have signed the letter so far.
Feinstein, who has fought to limit the administration’s power to detain U.S. citizens, issued a statement Tuesday about the leaked memo, which the committee had reviewed months before:
“I have been calling for the public release of the administration’s legal analysis on the use of lethal force—particularly against U.S. citizens—for more than a year,” Feinstein said. “That analysis is now public and the American people can review and judge the legality of these operations….
“The white paper itself was provided to the Senate Intelligence and Judiciary Committees in June 2012 as a confidential document. The white paper (along with other documents and briefings) has allowed the Intelligence Committee to conduct appropriate and probing oversight into the use of lethal force. That oversight is ongoing, and the committee continues to seek the actual legal opinions by the Department of Justice that provide details not outlined in this particular white paper.
“While the analysis in the white paper is not specific to any one individual, there has been significant question over the death of a U.S. citizen and operational leader of al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula named Anwar al-Aulaqi. As President Obama said at the time of his death, Aulaqi was the external operations leader for AQAP. He directed the failed attempt to blow up an airplane on Christmas Day in 2009 and was responsible for additional attempts to blow up U.S. cargo planes in 2010. He was actively plotting and recruiting others to kill Americans until the time of his death in Yemen.”
To see this article in its original format, go HERE.