Here's an interesting comment I've read on this issue from a local forum:

"The big fuss in the US is about how dare the US President order the murder of a US citizen.

In fact that's they are the only ones he should be able to order the murder of.

How dare Americans think that there should be one law for everyone else, and a different one for them. That they should have rights but no-one else have them. That they should be arrested and brought to trial and given due process, but their President can summarily murder or lock up forever without rights or trial anyone who isn't anywhere in the world.

Americans really are the most arrogant people in the world."

"TheEngineer" wrote:

Our laws protect our citizens. If the president of the United States of America, as the Commander in Chief, wants to order an assassination of a foreign citizen, he certainly can do this with the understanding that it could be considered to be an act of war. I'm not going to make a blanket statement like "This should NEVER be justified", a single person can cause millions of deaths, and I'd say that in some circumstances assassinations can be justified.

"Porforis" wrote:

a single person can cause millions of deaths

"Porforis" wrote:

DOD issues critical report on Ft. Hood
Posted: Thursday, April 15, 2010 11:07 AM by Mark Murray
Filed Under: Security, Jim Miklaszewski

From NBC's Jim Miklaszewski
NBC News has obtained a scathing report from Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who says that most of the Defense Department's safeguards were "unclear" or "inadequate" to identify the threat and prevent the mass shooting that killed 13 soldiers at Fort Hood in December.

Army Psychiatrist Major Nidal Hassan is charged in the shootings that also wounded 31.

The Secretary's report found that:

-- DOD's commitment to the Joint Terrorism Task Force is "inadequate," which results in "inconsistent" coordination with the FBI. The Joint Task force knew well before the shooting that Hassan was in communications with an al Qaeda sympathizer and recruiter, but that was not reported to DOD or the military.

-- Commanders and supervisors do not always receive information about individuals who may commit violent acts.

-- Counterintelligence training does not address "emerging threats including self-radicalization," which may contribute to potential violence. Hasan was known to have gone off on Islamic-related religious rants, and expressed strong opposition to Muslims in the U.S. military serving in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

-- DOD policy prohibiting certain supremacist or extremist behavior is "unclear" and "limited" when it comes to individual behavior.

-- DOD does not have a comprehensive cyberspace counterintelligence program to alert authorities to "non-foreign intelligence" on potential threats.

There are a series of recommendations to improve or establish programs to deal with each of these shortfalls that may have prevent early detection of the potential threat.

What this report does NOT address is the personal responsibility up and down Nidal Hassan's chain of command. That report recommends that a number of individuals who failed to report Hassan's erratic behavior be relieved of duty or disciplined. The list reportedly includes commanders and officers at Walter Reed, where Hassan had worked as a staff psychiatrist counseling soldiers with PTSD returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Army officials tell NBC News that the report is still sitting on the Army Secretary's desk while Army lawyers struggle to determine what legal hurdles must be cleared.

You do realize that on an army base, unless you're on the range or you're deployed, you don't touch a weapon, right? If anyone on that scene had been packing, they'd be in prison right now.

"Nonstopdrivel" wrote: