Thanks for the link. I have sent them an email asking for advice as to whether this situation is as bad as it seems to be, and if so, what I can do to make things less bad. I have also added something to my tickler file so that on May 21 I will be reminded to respond here with a followup even if there is no response from the ACLU’s National Security Project.
ETA: One thing to point out is that before sending the email I tried googling “Presidential Assassination Program” in google news and the subject seems to have had little coverage since then. This was the best followup I could find in the last few days, and it spoke of general apathy on the subject. This leading me to conclude that “not enough people had noticed” yet, so I followed through with my email.
I did not get a reply from the ACLU on this subject and just today sent a second email asking for another response. If the ACLU continues to blow me off by June 1st I may try forwarding my unanswered emails to several people at the ACLU (to see the blowoff was simply due to incompetance on the part of only the person monitoring the email).
If that doesn’t work then I expect I’ll try Amnesty International as suggested by Kevin. There will be at least one more comment with an update here, whatever happens, and possibly two or three :-)
This will be my final update on this subject. I received an email from a representative of the ACLU. He apologized for the delayed response and directed me to a series of links that I’m passing on here for the sake of completeness.
First, there is an April 7th ACLU press release about extra-judicial killings of US citizens, that press release notes that an FOIA request had already been filed which appears to ask for the details of the program to see specifically how it works in order to find out if it really violates any laws or not, preparatory to potential legal action.
This appears to provide a good summary of the institutional processes that have already been put in motion to fix the problems raised in the parent posts. The only thing left to consider appears to be (1) whether violations of the constitution will be adequately prevented and (2) to be sure that we are not free riding on the public service of other people too egregiously.
In this vein, the ACLU has a letter writing campaign organized so that people can send messages to elected officials asking that they respect the rule of law and the text of treaties that the US has signed, in case the extra-judicial killings of US citizens are really being planned and accomplished by the executive branch without trail or oversight by the courts.
Sending letters like these may help solve the problem a little bit, is very unlikely to hurt anything, and may patch guilt over free riding :-)
In the meantime I think “joining the ACLU as a dues paying member” just bumped up my todo list a bit.
Thanks for the link. I have sent them an email asking for advice as to whether this situation is as bad as it seems to be, and if so, what I can do to make things less bad. I have also added something to my tickler file so that on May 21 I will be reminded to respond here with a followup even if there is no response from the ACLU’s National Security Project.
I think I have done my good deed for the day :-)
ETA: One thing to point out is that before sending the email I tried googling “Presidential Assassination Program” in google news and the subject seems to have had little coverage since then. This was the best followup I could find in the last few days, and it spoke of general apathy on the subject. This leading me to conclude that “not enough people had noticed” yet, so I followed through with my email.
Following up for the sake of reference...
I did not get a reply from the ACLU on this subject and just today sent a second email asking for another response. If the ACLU continues to blow me off by June 1st I may try forwarding my unanswered emails to several people at the ACLU (to see the blowoff was simply due to incompetance on the part of only the person monitoring the email).
If that doesn’t work then I expect I’ll try Amnesty International as suggested by Kevin. There will be at least one more comment with an update here, whatever happens, and possibly two or three :-)
This will be my final update on this subject. I received an email from a representative of the ACLU. He apologized for the delayed response and directed me to a series of links that I’m passing on here for the sake of completeness.
First, there is an April 7th ACLU press release about extra-judicial killings of US citizens, that press release notes that an FOIA request had already been filed which appears to ask for the details of the program to see specifically how it works in order to find out if it really violates any laws or not, preparatory to potential legal action.
Second, on April 19th the Washington Post published a letter for the ACLU’s Executive Director on the subject. This confirms that the issue is getting institutional attention, recognition in the press, and will probably not “slip through the cracks”.
Third, on April 28th the ACLU sent an open letter to President Barack Obama about extrajudicial killings which is the same date that the ACLU’s update page for “targeted killings” was last updated. So it seems clear that steps have been taken to open negotiations with an individual human being who has the personal authority to cancel the program.
This appears to provide a good summary of the institutional processes that have already been put in motion to fix the problems raised in the parent posts. The only thing left to consider appears to be (1) whether violations of the constitution will be adequately prevented and (2) to be sure that we are not free riding on the public service of other people too egregiously.
In this vein, the ACLU has a letter writing campaign organized so that people can send messages to elected officials asking that they respect the rule of law and the text of treaties that the US has signed, in case the extra-judicial killings of US citizens are really being planned and accomplished by the executive branch without trail or oversight by the courts.
Sending letters like these may help solve the problem a little bit, is very unlikely to hurt anything, and may patch guilt over free riding :-)
In the meantime I think “joining the ACLU as a dues paying member” just bumped up my todo list a bit.