Barack Obama
US-Präsident Barack Hussein Obama erhielt den Friedensnobelpreis für seine "außergewöhnlichen Bemühungen, die internationale Diplomatie und die Zusammenarbeit zwischen Völkern zu stärken."
Yet in contrast to that image, which won the president the Nobel Peace Prize, Mr. Obama has repeatedly extended the reach of U.S. military and counterterrorism operations overseas, in Libya, Yemen, Pakistan and now Syria. That has prompted qualms on the left, who in particular balk at the administration's use of drones as a tool of warfare.
Kriminal- und Sicherheitspolitik
Nach Murtaza (2012):
- "The right to indefinitely detain citizens without trial, classified kill-lists and "disposition matrices", a fast-expanding fleet of legally-unaccountable aerial drones, and the presumptive right to kill American citizens without due process - all these sweeping expansions of executive power are the legacy of four years of Barack Obama's presidency and of themselves represent a new era in the power of the American government over its citizenry. Never before has an American president asserted their ability to act as judge, jury and executioner towards their own citizens, a power which Barack Obama claimed for the executive branch in killing the New Mexico-born fundamentalist preacher Anwar Al-Awlaki in a drone strike - followed by his 16 year-old son two weeks later. The passage of the National Defense Authorisation Act (NDAA) provides the President with the ability to place Americans under indefinite military detention without trial or even the provision of evidence; a power which extends to citizens abroad as well as to those on US soil. Such concepts seem utterly otherworldly to most Americans, especially given their origination from a liberal president who had been elected in large part as a response to the perceived belligerence and militarism of George W Bush."
Im Wahlkampf von 2012 brachten die bürgerrechtlich orientierten Kreise diese Themen nicht auf, um Obama nicht zu schaden:
- "However it is important to note that the unprecedented assertions of executive power over the life and death of American citizens during the past four years is an issue that goes far beyond partisan politics and which will have lasting repercussions for the United States after the upcoming election is a distant memory. While most Americans may trust Barack Obama as an individual not to abuse the broad new legal rights he has enshrined for his office, the undeniable truth is that regardless of whether he serves another four years, he will not be president indefinitely - and the expansive powers he has claimed represent an indelible legacy which will not expire when he leaves office. Even if Mitt Romney is defeated this coming November, an outcome which by most expert accounts is reasonably likely, further years and decades down the line there is no guarantee as to what type of president will come to office and what attitude they will have towards their new powers to detain and execute citizens without reference to once-sacred American values such as habeas corpus and the overarching right to due process - all of which have been unceremoniously discarded by this administration" (Murtaza).
Im Jahr 2012 setzte Obama mit seiner Unterschrift den FAA Reauthorisation Act in Kraft. Dieses Gesetz bedeutet:
- that unmanned drones will be moving from foreign military theatres into American skies at a rapidly accelerating pace - an estimated 30,000 by 2020. The first American to be arrested by a domestic police force with the assistance of Predator drone technology was an anti-government "sovereigntist" named Rodney Brossart who was detained on his property in South Dakota using what his attorney described as "guerilla-like police tactics". Drones are already in use by police forces around the country and law enforcement officials in Texas have already stated that they are considering equipping their own department's Predator drones with rubber bullets and tear gas - weapons which have historically been suited for crowd suppression. Plans are being implemented for the use of drones for domestic surveillance from New York to California, the latter (of) which held a large-scale exercise dubbed "Urban Shield" which heavily involved the use of unmanned drones for reconnaissance purposes.
Zwar sind Drohnen ähnlich wie Hubschrauber für Überwachungszwecke geeignet, doch fehlt es an Einsatz-Normen:
- As such, no lines have been drawn to mitigate their effect upon public privacy nor upon their impending weaponisation. Just as the drone warfare campaign in Pakistan and Yemen has become an entirely extrajudicial exercise in targeted killing and assassination, domestic drone use is rapidly expanding without meaningful attempts at legal oversight.
2011 äußerte sich die ACLU besorgt über
- "the eventual introduction of routine aerial surveillance in American life - a development that would profoundly change the character of public life in the United States".
Ein getrennter Bereich des Sonderrechts
Dem New York Times Herausgeber Andrew Rosenthal zufolge hat sich in den USA nach dem 11. September ein "separate legal system for Muslim Americans" etabliert - einzigartig harsch, unnachgiebig und eines, in dem das Recht auf ein faires Verfahren (the constitutional right to due process) nur unsystematisch, wenn überhaupt, gewährt wird.
In diesem Kontext kam es zur Anwendung, Tolerierung und oft sogar Kodifizierung von Praktiken, die früher in den USA (und anderen Rechtsstaaten) undenkbar waren - wie etwa:
- "indefinite detention, blanket surveillance as well as state-sanctioned kidnapping and rendition - have been asserted and often codified, thus ensuring that they remain in effect into posterity. While it is America's relatively small Muslim population today which bears the brunt of these measures, there is no guarantee upon whom they will be employed in the future. Ironically, Obama himself noted this in his 2004 keynote address to the Democratic National Convention where he astutely pointed out that "if there's an Arab American family being rounded-up, without benefit of an attorney, or due process, that threatens my civil libertie".
Eine dieser Gefahren für die Freiheit liegt in der Verführung zum Terrorismus von Amts wegen:
- "The use of entrapment as a tool by law enforcement agencies to mastermind terror plots on their own and induce young, isolated and impressionable Muslims into joining them has effectively become standard operating procedure, with the tacit endorsement of the executive branch.
Gibt es historische Erfahrungen über den Weg in die Zukunft? Erst Moslem-Minderheiten, dann Viktimisierung weiterer Minderheiten, dann schließlich größere Teile der Opposition?
Aufhebung von Grundrechten durch schlichten Beschluss der Exekutive und mit weniger Transparenz als jemals zuvor in der US-Geschichte.
- "Imagine for a moment it were George W Bush and not Barack Obama who had asserted the right of a president to kill American citizens without trial, subject them to permanent military detention and warrantless wiretapping, and who had authorised the creation of a legally unaccountable fleet of unmanned, perhaps armed, aerial robots to conduct surveillance over American cities" (Murtaza).
Barack Obama hat keine Kampagne gegen Grundrechte geführt. Doch nach vier Jahren im Amt hätte eine Kampagne - hätte er sie denn geführt - wohl kaum beeindruckendere Resultate haben können: die Entfernung der rechtlichen Strukturen, deren Aufgabe es war, die Machtergreifung eines potentiell willkürlichen und tyrannischen Führers in der Zukunft zu verhindern.
- "The power to hold secret "kill-lists" of American citizens and a raft of other measures that would only recently have been thought unconscionable are now firmly in the hands of the executive branch. In the haste to squelch criticism of him during election season, it is worth reflecting that regardless of what happens on November 4, Barack Obama will not be president of the United States ad infinitum. Despite this, the legacy of dangerously expanded executive powers he has left behind will live on and will take a path which cannot be safely predicted. Failing to challenge this president on his campaign against US civil liberties may one day be looked at as a failing far more significant than the results of this single election." (Murtaza).