ARCHIVE

Adam Serwer in Mother Jones reports that President Obama is claiming the authority to use military force with radio-controlled drones against American citizens on U.S. soil in "an extraordinary circumstance," Attorney General Eric Holder said in a letter to Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Tue., March 5. "The US Attorney General's refusal to rule out the possibility of drone strikes on American citizens and on American soil is more than frightening," Paul said in a statement. "It is an affront the constitutional due process rights of all Americans." Holder cited two historical examples of such "extraordinary" circumstances -- Pearl Harbor and the 9/11 terrorist attacks -- when assassinating Americans may be warranted (without a warrant). Holder wrote that that is a situation, "entirely hypothetical, unlikely to occur, and one we hope no president will ever have to confront." While Holder says the administration, "has no intention" of bombing Americans on U.S. soil, it has already killed one American in Yemen with a radio-controlled drone, Anwar al-Aulaqi on Sept. 30, 2011.