A Justice Department document has said it is legal for the government to kill US citizens abroad if it believes they are senior al-Qaeda leaders continually engaged in operations aimed at killing Americans.
The confidential memo, first reported yesterday by NBC News, provides a legal rationale behind the Obama
administration’s use of drone strikes against al-Qaeda suspects.
The 16-page document says that delaying action against individuals continually planning to kill Americans would
create an unacceptably high risk.
It adds that the threat posed by al-Qaeda and its associated forces demands a broader concept of when a person
continually planning terror attacks presents an imminent threat.
————-(AP)