Perhaps the single most striking aspect of these public death threats – whether clandestine assassination or carpet-bombing air strikes – leveled by notable American analysts and officials is that the United States currently has a specific program in place dedicated to extrajudicially murder U.S. citizens who do this exact thing.

The Obama administration has authorized the targeted killing of Muslim cleric and American national Anwar al-Awlaki. Earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal reported that Awlaki “was the imam at a Virginia mosque attended by U.S. Army Maj. Nidal Hasan, the suspect in the Fort Hood, Texas, shooting spree in November, and said in interview in the fall that he counseled Maj. Hasan before the attack. Investigators say he also had incidental contact with two of the 9/11 hijackers.” Nevertheless, the paper continued, “There is no indication Mr. Awlaki played a direct role in any of the attacks, and he has never been indicted in the U.S.”

The Times (UK) reported in April that following “the Christmas Day airliner plot, US and Yemeni officials said that Mr al-Awlaki had met the suspected bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who tried to ignite explosives sewn into his underwear.” Even though absolutely no evidence has ever been presented in a court of law to substantively link Awlaki with terrorist acts, an unnamed U.S. official has told the press, “Al-Awlaki is a proven threat. He’s been targeted.”

So far, the only “proof” given are the words of the U.S. government. On December 7, Reuters reported that “U.S. officials have described al-Awlaki as having a leadership role in al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula…he has urged attacks on the United States in Internet videos and writings.”

Urging attacks in Internet videos and writings? Most of the staunch advocates of assassinating both Awlaki and Assange, not to mention encouraging an unprovoked American or Israeli assault on Iran, have strong connections – and career histories – with U.S. government foreign policy and the military establishment. Their influence of public and official discourse cannot be taken lightly, nor can it be passed off as inconsequential or merely rhetorical. After all, this is exactly what preceeded the invasion and occupation of Iraq – with many of the same cheerleaders we hear today.

So, if that’s all it takes to condemn people to death without a trial and authorize drones to bomb their alleged whereabouts, how should North Korea react to the call of the aforementioned Instapundit blogger Glenn Reynolds to “nuke ’em. And not with just a few bombs,” in response to the current escalation of hostilities between North and South Korea? By this standard, at what point should the Washington punditry start watching the skies over the Potomac for signs of Iran’s newly-acquired UAV, the Karrar?

Yet, wishful thinking or even vocal advocacy of violence, however abhorrent and appalling, is protected under the First Amendment. The Supreme Court, in 1969, addressed this exact issue in the case Brandenburg v. Ohio when it concluded:

“…the mere abstract teaching…of the moral propriety or even moral necessity for a resort to force and violence, is not the same as preparing a group for violent action and steeling it to such action…A statute which fails to draw this distinction impermissibly intrudes upon the freedoms guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments. It sweeps within its condemnation speech which our Constitution has immunized from governmental control.”

Recently, however, the United States hasn’t worried much about due process and proof of criminal action or direct involvement in terrorist activities before issuing death warrants. For instance, according to the FBI itself, Osama bin Laden is still not accused of participating in or planning the 9/11 attacks, yet he is still wanted “dead or alive” by our government in connection with that terrible act.

Back in October, Jonah Goldberg expressed some doubts about the efficacy of assassinating Julian Assange:

“Assange is essentially hiding behind his celebrity and the fact that it wouldn’t do any good to kill him, given the nature of the Web. Even if the CIA wanted to take him out, they couldn’t without massive controversy. That’s because assassinating a hipster Australian Web guru as opposed to a Muslim terrorist is the kind of controversy no official dares invite.

“That’s fine. And it’s the law. I don’t expect the U.S. government to kill Assange, but I do expect them to try to stop him.”

According to Goldberg, the difference between killing Assange and Awlaki is not just that it is illegal for the U.S. government to assassinate people; rather, the difference is that one is an obnoxious white Australian while the other is a scary brown Muslim. While both damage the reputation and oppose the hegemonic domination of the United States using the power of words and the internet, the same rules don’t apply to both of them. The murder of one (the U.S. citizen, no less) is a no-brainer, while the murder of the other would be controversial. Still, in response to a FOIA request, the CIA recently refused to “confirm or deny the existence or nonexistence” of “current or previous plans to assassinate Julian Assange.”

Land of the free, home of the brave.

During the 2008 campaign, presidential hopeful Barack Obama stated, “Today we are engaged in a deadly global struggle for those who would intimidate, torture, and murder people for exercising the most basic freedoms. If we are to win this struggle and spread those freedoms, we must keep our own moral compass pointed in a true direction.”

It is unlikely that, back then, Obama anticipated that in a mere two years, “those who would intimidate, torture, and murder people for exercising the most basic freedoms” would included himself, senior officials in his administration, and the bloodthirsty Beltway.

Last Wednesday, December 10, marked the 30th anniversary of the tragic assassination of John Lennon. As always, his words ring as true today as they did when he wrote them:

I’m sick and tired of hearing things
From uptight, short-sighted
narrow-minded hypocritics
All I want is the truth
Just give me some truth

I’ve had enough of reading things
by neurotic, psychotic
pig-headed politicians
All I want is the truth
Just give me some truth

Gimme Some Truth, 1971

Thanks to the courageous efforts of people like Bradley Manning and Julian Assange, we now all have a little more truth.