Paul demands release of drone memos

Republican Senator Rand Paul has demanded the release of secret legal opinions written by Harvard Law School professor David Barron that authorized the killing of US citizens by illegal drone strikes.

Paul wrote in an April 30 letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that he will block the confirmation of Barron to a seat on the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit until the Obama administration releases the controversial memos the professor penned down that justified the US military’s killing of American citizens without trial overseas, The Boston Globe reported on Tuesday.

“The constitutionality of this policy has been the subject of intense debate in our country since its implementation,” said Paul, a potential Republican candidate for president in 2016.

“The disclosure of this document will not only clarify that debate, [but] it will also allow the Senate to gain critical insight into David Barron’s judicial philosophy,” he added.

Barron, formerly a lawyer in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, is scheduled to receive a Senate floor vote this week to sit on the federal Appeals Court in Boston.

Barron signed off on the 2011 killing US citizens like US-born Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, his 16-year-old son Abdulrahman al-Awlaki and naturalized US citizen Samir Khan.

A CIA drone strike killed al-Awlaki and Khan in Yemen in September 2011. In October 2011, another drone attack in Yemen left al-Awlaki’s son and six other people dead.

“No senator should be voting on this nomination until they have an opportunity to read all of the OLC opinions he has written on targeted killing,” said Christopher Anders, senior legislative counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union.

The US military has used the unmanned aircraft in several Muslim countries, including Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Washington claims that its airstrikes target militants, but local sources say civilians have been the main victims of the attacks. The United Nations has called the US drone attacks “targeted killings that flout international law.”

GJH/GJH

Source Article from http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/05/06/361541/rand-paul-demands-release-of-drone-memos/

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