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DOJ Must Explain Missile Attacks on U.S. Citizens Abroad (NACDL News)
By Jack King
In the past few months, U.S. Predator drone aircraft have targeted and killed three U.S. citizens in Yemen. In late September, a missile from a Predator drone aircraft killed citizens Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan.
In mid-October, a juvenile, Awlaki’s Denver-born son Abdulrahman, 16, was also killed in a missile strike, according to his family. U.S. officials have not publicly acknowledged his death, but, according to media reports, administration officials have said on background that they did not know the younger al-Awlaki was in the same group as the intended target.
Media and individuals across the political spectrum are calling for the government to explain the legal reasoning behind the killings. The public needs to know how such decisions are made, and any legal basis justifying them. NACDL has filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking any and all legal memoranda justifying the targeting of individuals overseas with lethal force and the role the Departmen
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