Letters: When the target is an American

Re “An American on the kill list,” Editorial, Feb. 12

The Times is apparently OK with the Obama administration ordering the killing of a U.S. citizen as long as the government provides a “detailed explanation” of why it has decided to snuff out the life of an American without due process.

It is a sad commentary on the continuing erosion of our constitutional rights when the president can act as judge, jury and executioner without giving the accused the right to confront the evidence against him in a court of law.

No detailed explanation can satisfy the due process rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

Dennis McIntyre

Rancho Palos Verdes

I often disagree with our president. But as far as I’m concerned, Obama nailed it when he said in his speech last May:

“When a U.S. citizen goes abroad to wage war against America and is actively plotting to kill U.S. citizens … his citizenship should no more serve as a shield than a sniper shooting down on an innocent crowd should be protected from a SWAT team.”

The editorial suggests that as an American, this potential addition to the administration’s kill list deserves due process. Wake up: We are at war, and the American in question is accused of being on the other side.

Jo-Anne Collins

Fountain Valley

ALSO:

Letters: The DWP’s solar woes

Letters: The silver screen as a teaching tool

Letters on Letters: Debating teacher tenure and layoffs