San Francisco (Obama.net)- The father or Anwar al-Awlaki, a Yemeni-American who is believed to be an al Qaeda terrorist hiding in Yemen, has sued the United States government in an attempt to stop them from targeting al-Awlaki as a potential figure to assassinate.
However, the Obama administration early Saturday morning told the court that continuing with the case “would require the disclosure of highly sensitive national security information concerning alleged military and intelligence actions overseas.”
The spokesperson for the United States Justice Department, Matthew Miller, said that al-Awlaki’s father wants to the American government to give up information that would put the security of the United States at risk. Miller argued against the request to release information about the fight against terrorism to the father of a dangerous terrorist.
The Obama administration said that the publicizing of the information “would be unprecedented, improper, and extraordinarily dangerous.” In addition, the grievance said that the allowance of the case would “improperly inject the courts” into how the government organizes its defense programs.
The suit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, as well as the Center for Constitutional Rights for Nasser al-Awlaki. The organizations both said that the courts should in fact have a strong say in how and why the government would “kill its own citizens.” They argued that in a democracy, the courts should have a say.
al-Awlaki has been linked to the hiring of Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, the man who attempted to blow up a Christmas Day Northwest Airlines flight to Detroit.
Anwar al-Awlaki has also been linked to other terrorists including Maj Nidal Hasan.
The United States says, “he continues to plot attacks against the U.S. and our allies and he is not bashful about saying that himself.” The government also called him a “significant operational figure within” al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
While many are questioning whether or not it is right for the government of the United States of America to have the right to execute whoever they choose to, at the same time John Brennan of the White House counter that if all American citizens were safe from ever being in trouble with the American government simply because of their citizenship, “then we would be making the American people more vulnerable to terrorist attack.”
Brennan argued that to give the American government this power is for the betterment and safety of the entire United States as a whole. He also made it clear that the power is never abused and is always used appropriately.
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