Judge OKs al Qaeda Assassination

A lawsuit challenging the U.S. government’s authority to assassinate Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen hiding with al Qaeda in Yemen, was thrown out today by a federal judge in a victory for the Obama administration. Al-Awlaki has been implicated in the Fort Hood shootings, the attempted Christmas Day bombing, and the recent foiled cargo-bomb plot. Civil liberties groups representing the targeted man’s father challenged the government’s authority to assassinate Al-Awlaki, an order President Obama reportedly gave himself. The judge ruled that Al-Awlaki did represent an imminent threat to American national security, and that his own views undermine anyone’s claim to sue on his behalf, saying his ideas “do not reflect the views of an individual who would likely want to sue to vindicate his U.S. constitutional rights in U.S. Courts."