Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution

“The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.”

When citizens become operatives for terrorists organizations they are in “rebellion” against the United States; further, the “public safety” of the citizens requires action being taken – as habeas corpus may be suspended in these circumstances taking them out by drone is not in violation of the Constitution. In short, we don’t have to bring them to trial. And yes, I know the difference between incarcerating someone and executing them, but the point is, the government can suspend certain “rights” under a given set of circumstances, “rebellion”, “invasion” or interests of the “public safety” being those times.

These two “citizens” had American blood on their hands, and I have no issue with the President having them “removed” from the world stage, nor do I have issues with drone strikes against terrorist leaders in Pakistan or elsewhere, the alternatives are do nothing – not acceptable – or sending boots on the ground, placing American lives at risk. The individuals in question chose to rebel, they chose their fate when they did so, and I will not support sending US troops into harms way on foreign soil to “arrest” someone who’s chosen to side with terrorism, sorry, but when they make that choice they’re denouncing their citizenship in favor of 72 virgins, and the Constitution nor its protected rights no longer apply.

We are not talking about drone strikes against tin foil hat wearing tea party members, we’re talking about drone strikes against known terrorists, there’s a big whopping difference. And if the tea party’s worried about being “taken out” they should be more concerned with Karl Rove than President Obama.

War is ugly, and innocent civilians are going to die, that’s why the United States should never go running gleefully into making war on anyone; however, conversely, the rest of the world should think long and hard before it makes war on us, or before it allows terrorist groups to establish training bases or safe havens within their borders. 9-11 changed forever how the United States will turn a blind eye to such activity. You don’t want drones raining missiles from the sky into your villages? Take out the terrorists yourselves, or better yet, don’t let them in to begin with.

Of course in an effort to make everyone feel better, I suppose we could just carpet bomb the villages like we did in WWII and Vietnam.

All-in-all, I think a drone strike is much more preferred.