Group demands DOJ memo authorizing drone strike against Anwar al-Awlaki
SAN FRANCISCO—The latest call for the Obama administration to publicly release its legal justification for a drone strike that killed U.S.-born al-Qaida cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen last year came on Wednesday in the form of a federal lawsuit.
The First Amendment Coalition of San Rafael is demanding release of a reported U.S. Department of Justice memo that authorized the attack that also killed a second American, Samir Khan, who edited al-Qaida's Internet magazine.
The free speech advocates argued in the lawsuit filed in federal court in San Francisco that the American public has a right to know the "legal justification for the use of lethal force against al-Awlaki and potentially other U.S. citizens who join forces with foreign terrorist organizations that threaten U.S. interests."
The coalition filed the lawsuit after the DOJ rejected a formal request for the memo made under the Freedom of Information Act. The DOJ cited national security in refusing to even acknowledge the memo's existence.
Read more: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2012/02/29/group_demands_doj_memo_authorizing_drone_strike/