Obama Admin to Release Memo Justifying Drone Killings of Americans Overseas

Facing Senate Uproar, Obama Admin to Release Memo Justifying Drone Killings of Americans Overseas




The Obama administration says it will release the secret government memo that authorizes the killings of Americans overseas. A federal appeals court ordered the memo's disclosure last month following a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union and The New York Times seeking the drone strikes' legal basis. The lawsuit came after the U.S. killed the American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, his 16-year-old son Abdulrahman, and Samir Khan in Yemen, despite having never charged any of them with a crime. The White House decided not to appeal the ruling after several Senators vowed to hold up a judicial nomination of the memo's author, David Barron. But the memo's release will be delayed as the administration redacts extensive portions it says contain classified information. We get reaction from Scott Horton, a human rights attorney and contributing editor at Harper's Magazine.