Additionally, what about US citizens that aren't on US soil (like me, or 16 year old Abdulrahman al-Awlaki)?
Don't we deserve the right to trial?
Don't we deserve the right to trial?
Who decides who's an al Qaeda member and who isn't?
Is "s/he's a member of al Qaeda" the magic words the admin has to say to not have to provide someone with due process?
There is no due process that protects you at war. This is why we don't want to be at war, and why we especially don't want to be at war with a brand name.
The "theater" in the Global War on Terror is the entire globe. The United States is not at war with Yemen.
Abdulrahman was not even alleged to have engaged in "military" conduct, merely being a propagandist.
He was not a "target", he was collateral damage of a strike on someone else.
This is not a heated battlefield death. The nature of war is shifting and using aggressive global militarism as an excuse to handwave around the denied due process of a 16 year old US citizen is disturbing.
Is there any place the U.S. is conducting drone strikes that's not on the list?
Drone combat is surgical compared with practically every other way in which we've fought wars. Drone operators are in no personal danger and don't need to act while under the cortisol and epinephrine loads of bullets whizzing by their heads. Drone operators are well-rested (in-theater combat troops are never well-rested). They're more mature than combat infantry. Drone resources are comparatively inexpensive and so missions don't have to be crafted that sacrifice risk of civilian casualties to minimize risks of military casualties.