My understanding was they put out a warrant for his arrest and had proof to charge him in a trial. If that's true I don't think he can really complain about his right to a jury trial being violated when it's his own fault because he refused to turn himself in and insisted on hiding in a foreign country where us law enfrocement jurisdiction doesn't reach.


If they don't do all that stuff first I am not ok with it.

Did they contact the authorities for the area he was suspected of being in to apprehend him?

Did they try to apprehend him at all?

I'm guessing the numerous videos he released, letters he wrote, and emails he sent should have been enough to convince anyone of his guilt - since he was so frikken proud of it himself.



Yes and yes. He was hiding in Yemen, and even Yemen tried to kill him once.

 

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I am sure Yuki can answer this but can the U.S. court system convict people like Al-Awaki in absentia?

What method was used to determine that those were in fact made by him?

Should we kill domestic criminals if they elude capture?

Depends what they did. If they're clearly a continued threat to everyone and there's no realistic way to bring them into custody without killing them...I dunno. It's a hard call to make.

How can you determine them to be a threat if you haven't determined they've done anything wrong?

Well, the fact they refuse to submit to trial and publish a bunch of videos bragging about their cimes should probably give you a clue.


If you're charged with a serious violent crime and run away from the police they're allowed to use deadly force to bring you in if required. I'm not sure this is really all that different. In the circumstances there really was no realistic alternative.


If the guy wasn't a US citizen no one would care. I'm not sure why him being a citizen really makes much of a difference in this case.

They are not allowed to kill you unless you're trying to kill them regardless of what you're charged with.

Refusing to submit to a trial is not evidence of guilt.

It makes a difference because one of the responsibilities of the government is to protect the rights of it's citizens.

Could you imagine the protests going on right now if bush was president and john ashcroft or alberto gonzales announced that it was just fine to target american citizens with drone strikes? People lost their minds with the patriot act, whether that guy deserved what he got or not the precedent is unheard of and very scary.