MatthewMaynard.net

Rank and organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company C, 601st Tank Destroyer Battalion. Place and date: Near Bruyeres, France, 25 October 1944. Entered service at: Anna, 111. Born: 28 June 1920, West Frankfurt, 111. G.O. No.: 75, 5 September 1945. Citation: He commanded a tank destroyer near Bruyeres, France, on 25 October 1944. Our infantry occupied a position on a wooded hill when, at dusk, an enemy Mark IV tank and a company of infantry attacked, threatening to overrun the American position and capture a command post 400 yards to the rear. S/Sgt. Choate’s tank destroyer, the only weapon available to oppose the German armor, was set afire by 2 hits. Ordering his men to abandon the destroyer, S/Sgt. Choate reached comparative safety. He returned to the burning destroyer to search for comrades possibly trapped in the vehicle risking instant death in an explosion which was imminent and braving enemy fire which ripped his jacket and tore the helmet from his head. Completing the search and seeing the tank and its supporting infantry overrunning our infantry in their shallow foxholes, he secured a bazooka and ran after the tank, dodging from tree to tree and passing through the enemy’s loose skirmish line. He fired a rocket from a distance of 20 yards, immobilizing the tank but leaving it able to spray the area with cannon and machinegun fire. Running back to our infantry through vicious fire, he secured another rocket, and, advancing against a hail of machinegun and small-arms fire reached a position 10 yards from the tank. His second shot shattered the turret. With his pistol he killed 2 of the crew as they emerged from the tank; and then running to the crippled Mark IV while enemy infantry sniped at him, he dropped a grenade inside the tank and completed its destruction. With their armor gone, the enemy infantry became disorganized and was driven back. S/Sgt. Choate’s great daring in assaulting an enemy tank single-handed, his determination to follow the vehicle after it had passed his position, and his skill and crushing thoroughness in the attack prevented the enemy from capturing a battalion command post and turned a probable defeat into a tactical success.

Kids Prefer Cheese has a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting the OWS and Tea Party movements, specifically how they identify the problems our country faces.

While the observation is true, there’s another one that can be made:

Note the empty set intersection.

Of course, there’s a more cynical way of describing the OWS solution:

Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan, two US citizens, are dead, as is the “life” portion of the US Constitution’s due process clause.

… nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law …

Ron Paul calls it an assassination, though I think that is too complex a word. Call it what it is – murder.

I know I have readers who are in favor of the War on Terror, and no doubt rejoiced when they heard the news of the deaths of these two. But think about the facts of the case for a moment before you start celebrating.

Two Americans, opposed to their government’s policies, become what amounts to accessories to murder. Instead of filing charges in US court and attempting to find and arrest these two citizens, the government puts them on a special list that marks them for death. They are hunted down with the aid of a foreign government and shot dead, without trial, without conviction, without appeal.

You might point out that “they had it coming, since they were terrorists.” Sure, but according to whom – the government? Whatever happened to the presumption of innocence? When did we decide that it doesn’t apply to terrorists? Timothy McVeigh was a terrorist, but he got a trial. When in the past sixteen years did we decide that for certain crimes, a judge, jury, and trial were too much trouble and we could just ignore that part of the Constitution?

This government is not enforcing justice, it is executing a vendetta. We will regret this course of action some day, when we realize that this execution has paved the way for a future president to declare innocent people to be terrorists without trial and order their death in likewise manner. We will realize that day that the law is governed by a man’s will and man’s will is no longer governed by the law – not that that isn’t the case today.

This will not end well.