Forum Post: Can Obama launch drone strikes against Americans in the US?

Before he will let John Brennan's nomination go forward, said Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on CNN Wednesday, he wants to hear that no one, in the CIA or the Department of Defense, can kill someone in America without any kind of judicial proceeding. "Senator Wyden asked Brennan this. In a committee hearing, he says, 'Can you kill an American on American soil with a drone without a judicial hearing?" And Brennan didn't answer the question."

Paul pointed out that both he, and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), have asked for an answer to this question in writing. "And we don't have an answer. So if you're not going to answer 'no,' I think that means you're essentially telling us 'yes,' you believe that the President has the power to kill an American in America .... and that is very scary and worrisome to me that you would strike Americans."

"Do you realize we do 'signature strikes' now?" Paul asked, noting that "We don't even name ... people we kill with drones. If there's a line of traffic coming out of a camp, and we think that is populated by people who don't like America, we bomb them. Well, is that a high enough standard for Americans, maybe coming out of a city or an encampment somewhere in the U.S., where they're meeting and saying anti-government things? Are we going to have signature strikes in America? I mean, it opens Pandora's Box once you say, you may well kill Americans in America without any judicial trial, with politicians making the decision."

http://larouchepac.com/node/25519