Rush Limbaugh: Obama Drone Policy Means You Can Kill a Terrorist You Just Can’t Waterboard Him

“Does this mean that Nixon coulda taken out Bill Ayers? Does this mean that Richard Nixon could have taken out the New Black Panther Party?”

Transcript from the Rush Limbaugh website:

If this provision had been in place back in the seventies, does this mean that Nixon could have assassinated the Weathermen? Does this mean that Nixon coulda taken out Bill Ayers? Does this mean that Richard Nixon could have taken out the New Black Panther Party? It doesn’t mean that? Well, “…’senior operational leaders’ of al-Qaida or ‘an associated force’ — even if there is no intelligence indicating they are engaged in an active plot to attack the US.

“The 16-page memo, a copy of which was obtained by NBC News,” which means the administration gave it to ‘em, “provides new details about the legal reasoning behind one of the Obama administration’s most secretive and controversial polices: its dramatically increased use of drone strikes against al-Qaida suspects abroad, including those aimed at American citizens.”

Remember all the grief that George Bush got for warrantless wiretaps on phone calls? Do you remember that? I remember when Bush was president, the American left was literally having conniption fits.

Does that mean Nixon coulda killed Bill Ayers? It does mean that. Bill Ayers or the Weathermen. He had an active plot against the US, bombed the Pentagon.If Nixon had assumed the kind of power that Obama’s assuming, he could have sent a commando team out to wipe out Bill Ayers. You can’t kill rogue leaders. No, you cannot. By law, we cannot assassinate foreign leaders. We can now kill Americans, as long as we say they are related to Al-Qaeda somehow. And that link isn’t too tough. Al-Qaeda hates America. All you have to do is hate America and it could be said that you are an associated force.

Remember all of the anger that the left had over waterboarding. And look at this now. I think I have this right. Constitutional scholar Barack Obama is demanding the right to kill American citizens without making his case to a judge, as long as he thinks the American in question is in an upper tier of operations of Al-Qaeda or a related group. But he can’t waterboard the guy. You can kill him, but we can’t waterboard him. We can kill the son of a…, but we can’t torture him. Have I got this right? I think I do. I thought you should know.