Obama used secret DOJ memo to justify Awlaki killing...but now he won't let you see it



President Obama used a secret memorandum to authorise the killing of U.S.-born Al Qaeda terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki - but the White House is refusing to make the document public.

The legal writ, issued by the Justice Department, tackled the issues surrounding the targeted killing of a U.S. citizen by the American government - on the surface an unconstitutional act.

The Washington Post quoted one of the officials involved in the negotiations surrounding the memo as saying, 'What constitutes due process in this case is a due process in war.'

Constitutional? Anwar al-Awlaki - a U.S. born citizen - was killed using secret authorisation from the justice department

legal? Officials at both the White House and the Justice Department have since refused all requests to answer how fifth amendment rights - guaranteeing a fair trial for all U.S. citizens - were satisfied by the secret memorandum

T he administration has remained tight lipped on the exact nature of the authorisation to kill Awlaki, instead sticking to a vague justification.



On Friday an administration official said: 'As a general matter, it would be entirely lawful for the United States to target high-level leaders of enemy forces, regardless of their nationality, who are plotting to kill Americans both under the authority provided by Congress in its use of military force in the armed conflict with al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and associated forces as well as established international law that recognizes our right of self-defence.'

Officials at both the White House and the Justice Department have since refused all requests to answer how fifth amendment rights - guaranteeing a fair trial for all U.S. citizens - were satisfied by the secret memorandum.

The news comes a day after p residential hopeful Ron Paul called into question Obama's decision to kill radical Awlaki.

Writing in the New York Daily News, the outspoken Republican contender said the President Obama was acting outside 'the Constitution or the rule of law' when he ordered Friday's drone strike on the American born terrorist leader.

In flight: U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta answers questions onboard an air force plane over the Atlantic Ocean.

U.S Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has also weighed in on the killings, adding that the deaths of several Al Qaeda leaders in recent months will make it more difficult for the terror group and its associates to launch attacks abroad, America's top defence official has said.



Speaking to reporters as he was heading to the Middle East he said: 'By virtue of eliminating that leadership, I think it makes it much more difficult for Al Qaeda to develop the kinds of plans and operations for conducting large attacks abroad.



Killed: Anwar al-Awlaki, left, and Osama bin Laden have both died following attacks by the U.S.

Awlaki, identified by U.S. intelligence as 'chief of external operations' for al Qaeda's Yemen branch and a Web-savvy propagandist for the Islamist cause, was killed in a CIA drone attack in a remote Yemeni town, U.S. officials said.



Awlaki, the first American on the CIA's kill or capture list, was killed in an airstrike when two Predator drones fired Hellfire missiles at his convoy. The mission was carried out by the CIA and the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command - who oversaw the mission that took out Osama Bin Laden.

