Many believe that assassinations pulled off by federal agencies are just in movies like the born trilogy and other CIA movies. That sad reality of this statement is that it is simply just not truthful. Today a “Hit-List” is in effect allowing the assignation of US citizens no matter where they are in the world. This new programs has been so under reported that almost all of our population does not even know it is happening.  In the coming paragraphs I will speak on who is on this “Hit-List” and why it is unconstitutional for the president of the United States to play judge jury and executioner.

Anwar al-awlaki is an American born Islamic Cleric. Being born in the United States would and should mean he will be granted all the rights every American is given. This consists of the right of free speech to due process if charges are brought on him. It seems that all of these rights have been stripped away from Anwar. The executive branch has “Authorized the CIA to kill Al-awaki no matter where he is found”.

The New York Times reported:          “The Obama administration has taken the extraordinary step of authorizing the targeted kill of an American citizen, the radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-awlaki, who is believed to have shifted from encouraging attacks on the United States to directly participation in them, intelligence and counterterrorism officials said…”

I can understand why this seems justified but the question that must always be asked is “Where is the evidence” and who is giving the go ahead to take these actions in killing American citizens.

Director of national intelligence Dennis C. Blair said “in each case a decision to use lethal force against a U.S. citizen must get special permission…policy on killing American citizens who have joined al Qaeda requires first obtaining high-level government approval”

The true problem here is the idea that there are no checks and balances outside the executive branch granting all power to assassinate us citizens in the hands of the president. James Madison wrote in the federalist papers;

            “If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.”

This assassination program goes against everything our forefathers wanted for this great nation. Not all presidents in the future will be noble and wise men with rational minds but for those that are not this program can and will be used as a tool of tyranny and not justice. Are government is broken down into three branches for a reason. Without judicial oversight there is no limit to this assignation program and the lines of free speech can and will be redrawn for the good of those in power not the people.