Samir Khan was the publisher of an online magazine called "Inspire". He was a U.S. citizen who began his career by blogging from his family home basement in the U.S., but who moved to the Arabian penninsula to study Arabic. He began publishing his jihadist online magazine in 2010.
On September 30, 2011, Samir Khan was killed by a Hellfire missile fired from a CIA Predator drone aircraft. Our governement has not confirmed whether Mr. Khan was a separate target, or whether he was killed merely by being in the presence of Anwar al-Awlaki, who was also assassinated in the same attack. The Obama administration has also not released its legal justification for killing citizens of the United States without extending to them the protections afforded to Americans under the fifth ammendment of the U.S. Constitution, which states that no person shall be "deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." Neither has it articulated the specific charges of criminal or war acts alleged against Mr. Khan.
As an American, I am not sorry that either Mr. Khan or Mr. al-Awlaki are dead. I too initially celebrated that the two al Qaeda members who principally spoke to the Western world were dead. However, once I had a moment to reflect on this unprecedented action by our president, I became concerned. If the president of the United States can kill Mr. Khan because he does not like what he was publishing on the web, what will stop Mr. Obama from killing you or me if we do something he doesn't like? It appears that the only thing that has supported Mr. Obama's actions in this regard is general public opinion? Is public opinion on the killing of a U.S. citizen enough to constrain the governement in taking such actions against you or me if we somehow end up on the "bad" list? After all, the government says I am someone who is dangerous - a veteran of the U.S. army, a Christian, conservative in my views, white, and an owner of guns. Just how worried should I be?
Consider how well public opinion constrained tyranny in Germany in the 1930's.
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