It is official; US is allowed to assassinate its own citizens

It is at least very wishy-washy and that is not so much the fact that the US government can target US citizens abroad and if anyone was thinking of blowing themselves up in the centre of New York by golly they should be stopped by hook or by crook. However, what about the Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair's assertion that "we don't target people for free speech" and that "they are (only) subject to assassination when the government decides they are a threat and when they (the spook community) get specific permission." Who actually gives this permission was not touched upon but we can chew the cud on that one and whoever it is we might just wonder, at what point do they decide that someone might be considered a "threat"; maybe when they start to effect changes through their exercising their right to free speech. To be fair to Mr Blair he does qualify what he is saying by adding that people (including American citizens) will be targeted if there is reason to think that anything that is being planned will "involve the killing of an American."

Remember we are talking about American citizens here and the targeting of American citizens is a very sensitive issue in the United States. No you can kill Bangladeshis, Belgians and even Brits but extra-judicial killings of non-Americans; forget international law, what about the fifth amendment! Of course, the legal aspect aside for those who have been active in training death squads all over the globe, there won't be much of a struggle with their conscience. However, with Professor Francis A. Boyle of the University of Illinois Law School, asserting that Washington has compiled a "death list" for U.S. citizens abroad, the very real problem is highlighted. Namely, who decides on who goes onto this death list, who gives the permission, when is that premission given and why is it given? One can almost suspect that that holy of holies, "free speech", is not quite so sancrosant after all and certainly not when it leads to any action that might threaten the powers that be. In other words, we can talk our little heads off but we cannot change anything and if there might even be an inkling that we are in the process of changing anything somebody might take a rather serious dislike to our person.