White House - Drone Strikes Are 'Legal,' 'Ethical' And 'Wise'

It's no surprise that among the first questions White House Press Secretary Jay Carney received at today's press briefing was one that concerned a recently-leaked Justice Department memo that offered justification for killing U.S. citizens abroad in predator drone attacks.

Carney began by clarifying that the memo in question was an "unclassified document" prepared for members of Congress. "The president takes his responsibilities very seriously," Carney said. "And first and foremost that's his responsibility to protect the United States." He continued by saying that the president is dedicated to waging the war on Al-Qaeda "in a way that is fully consistent with the Constitution and all the applicable laws."

Turing specifically to unmanned drone attacks, Carney appeared to be reading from a prepared statement on the matter, emphasizing that "these strikes are legal, they are ethical and they are wise."

The memo has come under fire by the American Civil Liberties Union's National Security Project among other groups for using executive authority to justify killing Americans without due process of the law. As Joe Scarborough said on MSNBC this morning, "If George Bush had done this, it would have been stopped."

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[FreekeeChakra]

Wars and killing children and civilians in other countries to save American lives? To protect our free way of life? Wars are not fought on behalf of American citizens! They are fought for the benefit of the 1% wealthy elite who orchestrate conflicts and terror on citizens for their own greed and power. And our OWN govt is taking away our freedoms and hope for future prosperity at this very moment! Gov does not give one measly shit about us or anything else on this planet, actually.

[LTAndersen44]

Oh right. Cuz when your in ground war and your taking out the enemy you also accidently kill 30+ civis??

[Omar Velazquez]

Fucking full of shit what they doing is illegal and it needs to stop

[Chrisfragger1]

Prevent the loss of Innocent Life? Tell that to the nearly 200 Children Obama has murdered with his Drone Strikes.

A sniper could do the job easily with 1 bullet, but no they use missiles that kill everyone within a block of their "Target".

[hardcorelifeforus000]

History repeats itself my fellow humans, this system was build to collapse itself.. and now its here we were all blind and in a way its "late" its already going down we are well the government is in too much, imagine a murder who has been escaping from the police for days and then finally his caught.. that feeling well yea thats what this government is feeling and is going through, they got caught.. i wish you all the best and i hope if something does happen help each other, be nice! respect.

[GodsOutlaw1964]

Tyranny works best when it hides in the cloak of a moral mission.

Leslie Powers

[kevin smith]

when was the last time a terrorist was even on u.s. soil...literally never...drone war is fucking useless

[oplixity]

"precision" oh you mean like the hundreds of women and children that have been collateral damage in these predator strikes overseas. I DONT FUCKING CARE ABOUT WHAT OBAMA "TAKES SERIOUSLY" I WANT LAW.

[countchoc90]

save american lives, except when these drones are used against americans...