Who’s the bigger douche, Anwar al-Awlaki (نور العولقي‎أ) or Barack Obama?

One thing Obama failed to mention during his “Change We Can Believe In” was that the change would really be more of the same, and what you can believe in is the fact we would blanket the Middle East with predator drones.

Summer of 2011 (I’m in Texas, it’s still summer) has seen two extraordinary developments in US application of international law.   On May 1st we crossed into Pakistan with no permission, no notice, and certainly no due process to execute Osama bin Laden (أسامة بن محمد بن عوض بن) .  While any sane person can agree he was an epic douche, wars have been fought over less.

At the end of WWII the British wanted to assassinate the leaders of the reich.  Roosevelt urged them to reconsider, pleading they must at least have some sort of trial, that they be sentenced before execution.  While the motivations for that can be argued, the morality of the decision is undeniable.  If nothing else, the US got to enjoy the good feelings of being in the right.  In killing OBL without due process, the US can no longer justify its international police force on the basis it is just.  The US have transformed from world police to world criminal gang, and while this has been true for a long time this act has in some small way made it official.

The similar murder of al-Awlaki, though by hellfire missile rather than wet-works team, is an evolution in the trend.  Awlaki was a US citizen.  Say what one will about his treachery, murderous ideology, and past crimes it cannot be denied he was executed without a trial.  Ponder that for a second, a US citizen was assassinated by executive order without a trial.

I’m not defending Awlaki, he was a douche, I’m defending his right to present his case before a court of law.  I think we can all agree had he been captured he would have similarly been removed as a threat.  Perhaps his murder would have been less expedient, but is that what we’re looking for?  Do we really want expedient murder of all enemies of the state, because that begs the question “who qualifies as an enemy of the state?”   First OBL, Saudi terrorist number one  and now Awlaki, a US citizen – perhaps also a terrorist but a citizen just the same.   This is a slippery slope, and while Roosevelt seemed to recognize that, Obama seems not to care because his extenuating circumstances just do not allow for civility.

So I ask you, who is the bigger douche?