June, 23 2014, 12:09pm EDT
![ACLU](https://assets.rbl.ms/32012694/origin.png)
U.S. Releases Targeted Killing Memo in Response to Long-Running ACLU Lawsuit
In response to a court order in consolidated Freedom of Information Act lawsuits filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and The New York Times, the Obama administration has released a key Justice Department legal memo on U.S. targeted killing operations. The July 2010 memo was the basis for the government's extrajudicial killing of an American citizen, Anwar al-Aulaqi, in 2011. In the memo, the government claims broad authority to kill American terrorism suspects without judicial process or geographic limitation.
WASHINGTON
In response to a court order in consolidated Freedom of Information Act lawsuits filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and The New York Times, the Obama administration has released a key Justice Department legal memo on U.S. targeted killing operations. The July 2010 memo was the basis for the government's extrajudicial killing of an American citizen, Anwar al-Aulaqi, in 2011. In the memo, the government claims broad authority to kill American terrorism suspects without judicial process or geographic limitation.
"The release of this memo represents an overdue but nonetheless crucial step towards transparency. There are few questions more important than the question of when the government has the authority to kill its own citizens," said ACLU Deputy Legal Director Jameel Jaffer, who argued the FOIA lawsuit before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
"This memo's release will allow the public to better understand the scope and implications of the authority the government is claiming."
The memo is a 41-page classified document, dated July 16, 2010, captioned "memorandum for the attorney general" and authored by David Barron, who was then the acting chief of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC). In May, the Senate confirmed Barron's nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
The ACLU's FOIA lawsuit seeks documents related to the legal and factual bases for the government's killing of three Americans in Yemen in 2011: Anwar al-Aulaqi, his 16-year-old son Abdulrahman, and Samir Khan. The request specifically seeks memos written by the OLC that concluded that the killing of American citizens would be constitutional in certain situations. The New York Times submitted a similar but narrower FOIA request, and the two resulting lawsuits were combined.
In its April ruling, the appeals court ordered the government to release the July 2010 OLC memo with redactions to protect "intelligence sources and methods." The government filed a motion asking the court for additional redactions, which are reflected in version of the memo released today.
With the memo today, the court also released today a less-redacted version of the opinion it issued in April. The previously redacted text orders the government to submit other OLC memos to the district court for review (and possible release), and observes that neither the CIA's role in al-Aulaqi's killing nor the fact that the killing took place in Yemen is still a legitimate secret.
"We will continue to press for the release of other documents relating to the targeted-killing program, including other legal memos and documents relating to civilian casualties." Jaffer said.
"The drone program has been responsible for the deaths of thousands of people, including countless innocent bystanders, but the American public knows scandalously little about who is being killed and why."
The memo is at:
aclu.org/national-security/anwar-al-aulaqi-foia-request-olc-memo
The court's opinion is at:
aclu.org/national-security/anwar-al-aulaqi-foia-request-opinion
An ACLU analysis of key sections of the memo will be online later at:
aclu.org/national-security/anwar-al-awlaki-foia-request
More background on the case is at:
aclu.org/blog/national-security/drone-memo-cometh
The American Civil Liberties Union was founded in 1920 and is our nation's guardian of liberty. The ACLU works in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.
(212) 549-2666LATEST NEWS
UN Chief Says Rich Countries 'Signing Away Our Future' With Fossil Fuel Development
"I must call out the flood of fossil fuel expansion we are seeing in some of the world's wealthiest countries," U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said. "Countries must phaseout fossil fuels—fast and fairly."
Jul 26, 2024
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Thursday criticized the world's wealthiest countries for expanding fossil fuel production, one day after an analysis in The Guardian showed that five Western countries are leading a global surge in oil and gas development.
Guterres' remarks came as part of a "call to action" on extreme heat at a press conference in New York, after record-setting world temperatures earlier in the week and a series of deadly heatwaves across the world this year.
Guterres, who has long been outspoken on the need for climate action, called extreme heat one of the "symptoms" of a "disease" that is the "addiction" to fossil fuels.
"I must call out the flood of fossil fuel expansion we are seeing in some of the world's wealthiest countries," he said nine minutes and 53 seconds into his remarks. "In signing such a surge of new oil and gas licenses, they are signing away our future. The leadership of those with the greatest capabilities and capacities is essential. Countries must phaseout fossil fuels—fast and fairly."
The U.N. chief's comments may have been based on Wednesday's findings that five Western countries—the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Norway—have significantly scaled up oil and gas licensing this year, despite their international climate commitments. The findings came from an analysis of industry data conducted by the International Institute for Sustainable Development and published in The Guardian.
The analysis found that the five countries together have licensed or plan to license projects in 2024 that will emit 11.9 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions over their lifetimes. The news renewed discussions about whether countries such as the U.S., though they claim to be climate leaders, should be considered "petrostates"—a contemptuous term formerly reserved for countries such as Saudi Arabia and Russia.
Guterres has long been outspoken on the issue of fossil fuels. At the COP28 U.N. climate change summit in Dubai last year, he spoke forcefully about the need for phasing them out and meeting the 1.5°C target set in the Paris agreement.
"The 1.5°C limit is only possible if we ultimately stop burning all fossil fuels," he said. "Not reduce. Not abate. Phase out—with a clear timeframe aligned with 1.5°C."
The loophole-ridden deal that emerged from Dubai didn't match Guterres' ambitions, but did call for "transitioning away from fossil fuels."
His call to action on Thursday included a four-part plan for dealing with extreme heat: caring for the most vulnerable, protecting workers, boosting resilience, and limiting further temperature rise by phasing out fossil fuels and scaling up renewables.
Leaders across the board must wake up and step up their #ClimateAction.
That means governments – especially #G20 countries – as well as the private sector, cities and regions.
They must #ActNow as though our future depends on it – because it does.
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) July 26, 2024
Guterres warned that 70% of the global workforce—over 2.4 billion people—is at substantial risk of experiencing extreme heat, and the situation is especially dire for workers in Africa and the Middle East. He called for strong laws to protect workers, which some countries are enacting. The Biden administration recently moved to set the first national workplace heat safety protections in the U.S.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Labour Ditches Tory Plan to Oppose ICC Request for Netanyahu Arrest Warrant
Now the United Kingdom's government must "stop selling Israel weapons," said one observer.
Jul 26, 2024
The United Kingdom's newly elected Labour government abandoned plans by its Tory predecessor to challenge the International Criminal Court's May application for arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Under Conservative leadership, the U.K. joined the U.S., Germany, and other Israel allies in condemning the ICC prosecutor's application for arrest warrants against the top Israeli officials for alleged war crimes in Gaza, including "starvation of civilians as a method of warfare" and "extermination."
The ICC prosecutor also applied for arrest warrants against Hamas leaders over atrocities committed in Israel on October 7.
As The Financial Timesreported, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer "had until Friday to decide whether to make legal arguments to support questions raised by the previous Conservative government over the ICC's jurisdiction to issue warrants against Netanyahu and his defense minister."
A spokesperson for the Labour government said it would "not be pursuing this in line with our long-standing position" that "it's a matter for the courts to decide."
"Well done to the millions of people across the country who have made it clear that they refuse to be complicit in war crimes."
Humanitarians applauded the government's decision. Rohan Talbot, director of advocacy and campaigns at Medical Aid for Palestinians, called Tory opposition to the proposed arrest warrants "a disgraceful attempt to delay justice."
"I hope the new government will now throw its full support behind the court and uphold any warrants issued," Talbot added.
Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, also welcomed the move and urged the government to "stop selling Israel weapons." Between October 7 and May 31, the U.K. government issued more than 100 arms export licenses to Israel, according to official figures reported by The Guardian.
Reutersreported earlier this week that in documents released Tuesday, "judges granted permission to 18 states including the U.S., Germany, and South Africa to file written submissions to the ICC about its proposed arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant, and Hamas leaders.
"While there is no set deadline to rule on the prosecution request for arrest warrants," the news agency noted, "allowing dozens of legal arguments will slow the process by the three-judge panel deciding on the matter."
Former Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn, who won reelection to his Islington North seat as an Independent following his expulsion from the Labour Party, called the Starmer government's decision to ditch the Tories' opposition to the ICC arrest warrant requests "an important first step in respecting the universal application of international law."
"Well done to the millions of people across the country who have made it clear that they refuse to be complicit in war crimes," Corbyn added. "We will continue to demand an end to the massacre in Gaza, an end to all arms sales to Israel, and an end to the occupation of Palestine."
Keep ReadingShow Less
US Healthcare Workers Back From Gaza Tell Harris and Biden: 'End This Madness'
"Every day that we continue supplying weapons and munitions to Israel is another day that women are shredded by our bombs and children are murdered with our bullets."
Jul 26, 2024
As President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Thursday, dozens of American healthcare workers who recently volunteered in the Gaza Strip urged the U.S. leaders to do everything in their power to end Israel's assault on the enclave, citing the horrors they witnessed firsthand.
In an open letter addressed to Biden, Harris, and First Lady Jill Biden, 45 physicians, surgeons, and nurses wrote that "we wish you could see the nightmares that plague so many of us since we have returned: dreams of children maimed and mutilated by our weapons, and their inconsolable mothers begging us to save them."
"We wish you could hear the cries and screams our consciences will not let us forget," the letter reads. "We cannot believe that anyone would continue arming the country that is deliberately killing these children after seeing what we have seen."
The healthcare workers called on the Biden administration to "withhold military, economic, and diplomatic support from the state of Israel and to participate in an international arms embargo of both Israel and all Palestinian armed groups until a permanent cease-fire is established, and until good-faith negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians lead to a permanent resolution of the conflict."
"We are not politicians. We do not claim to have all the answers," they continued. "We are simply physicians and nurses who cannot remain silent about what we saw in Gaza. Every day that we continue supplying weapons and munitions to Israel is another day that women are shredded by our bombs and children are murdered with our bullets. President Biden and Vice President Harris, we urge you: End this madness now!"
This is an open letter addressed to @POTUS, @VP , and @FLOTUS signed by 45 American physicians and nurses, about what we saw while working in Gaza. Please feel free to distribute. A PDF can be downloaded from the link and/or QR code on page 1. pic.twitter.com/LHVvmeAFad
— Feroze Sidhwa (@FerozeSidhwa) July 25, 2024
The letter was released as Netanyahu, fresh off his widely condemned address to the U.S. Congress, met separately on Thursday with Biden and Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
In remarks following her meeting with Netanyahu, Harris said that "what has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating," pointing to "the images of dead children and desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, sometimes displaced for the second, third, or fourth time."
"We cannot look away in the face of these tragedies," the vice president added. "We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering. And I will not be silent."
Harris said she told Netanyahu directly to "get this deal done"—referring to a cease-fire agreement with Hamas—but, as expected, she did not break with the administration on supplying arms to the Israeli military.
While there has been no obvious policy change from the administration now that Harris has taken over for Biden at the top of the Democratic Party's presidential ticket, Trita Parsi of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft argued that the vice president "clearly broke with Biden on Israel in terms of rhetoric and tone."
Parsi also contended that there was "a substance shift."
"Biden has disingenuously claimed that Hamas blocked a cease-fire deal," Parsi wrote on social media. "By saying that she urged Netanyahu 'to clinch the deal,' Kamala pointed to the real obstacle."
BREAKING: VP Harris speaks after meeting with Israeli PM Netanyahu
Harris calling for an immediate cease-fire deal to free the hostages.
The VP saying she “will not be silent" about the suffering in Gaza, the "devastating" loss of life and the "dire" humanitarian crisis. pic.twitter.com/Fe5QPoOuFh
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) July 25, 2024
In their letter to Harris and Biden, the healthcare workers wrote that Israel "has directly targeted and deliberately devastated Gaza's entire healthcare system" and "targeted our colleagues in Gaza for death, disappearance, and torture." According to figures from the United Nations Human Rights Office, Israeli forces have killed one in every 40 healthcare workers in the Palestinian territory since October as diseases spread and the number of Gazans killed or wounded continues to grow by the hour.
The healthcare workers expressed the view that—based on available evidence and their experiences—"the death toll from this conflictis many times higher than what is reported by the Gaza Ministry of Health," which currently stands at over 39,100.
"We also believe this is probative evidence of widespread violations of American laws governing the use of American weapons abroad, and of international humanitarian law," they continued. "We cannot forget the scenes of unbearable cruelty directed at women and children that we witnessed ourselves."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular