Vol. 75/No. 37      October 17, 2011

The September 30 cold-blooded assassination by a U.S. drone strike in Yemen of Anwar al-Awlaki, Samir Khan, and five other people whom Washington alleges were leaders or members of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is a stark reminder that Washington’s wars abroad are an extension of its war against working people at home.

Since Barack Obama took office in January 2009, the place and weight of “hunter-killer” operations in U.S. military operations—from the Middle East and South Asia to North and East Africa—has grown. This goes hand in hand with increased collaboration between the military and CIA: in the realm of spy operations, expanding use of drones for surveillance and killings, and stepped-up assassinations like that carried out against Osama bin Laden in May.

President Obama openly declared last year that al-Awlaki was a U.S. target for assassination. The decision was upheld by the courts. In carrying through that unilateral executive judgment, assassinating two U.S. citizens—al-Awlaki and Khan—the U.S. rulers seek to set a dangerous precedent.

Over the last decade, under the pretext of fighting “terrorism,” Washington has militarized U.S. borders; encroached on privacy rights; curtailed the presumption of innocence; increased the powers of cop agencies; and stepped up use of arbitrary searches and arrests, as well as secret trials and secret evidence.

With the deepening crisis of capitalism worldwide, the bosses and their governments are pressing to foist the burden on working people from Greece to the United States. They anticipate intensifying class struggle as should we. And we should also anticipate that the methods and weapons the exploiting class uses against so-called “terrorists” and “foreigners” abroad will one day be turned against working-class militants at home.
 
 
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White House openly targets, kills US citizen in Yemen  
 
 
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