citizen named anwar locky course was assassinated last september in a u.s. drone strike in yemen hyder interviewed anwar lockett number of times. in fact he was the first hurdle list to interview him after the fort hood shooting where major nidal hassan gunned down more than a dozen of his fellow soldiers in fort hood texas and in fact if you read the transcript or you watch the interview. with admiral rocky it's a very critical interview and it's it reads like an interviewer to check a journalist who was pressing a lockie with hard questions in fact one of the pieces of evidence and you can't really call it that because it's a lot he was only convicted in the court of public opinion never in court but one of the things that was cited by the pro assassination punditry were comments that how lucky had made kabul the hider praising his sons' killing of these soldiers i bring that up because i will hide or was well known in the international press corps he had worked with the washington post he had been cited by the new york times at a.b.c. news as an al qaeda

more a lockie it's a very critical interview ahead and it's it reads like an interview of an objective journalist who was pressing got lucky with our questions in fact one of the pieces of evidence and you can't really call it back because it's a lot he was only convicted in the court of public opinion never encouraged but one of the things that was cited by the pro assassination under treat were comments that how lucky had made her praising that bal hassan's killing of these soldiers i bring that up because i will hide or well known in the international press corps he had worked with the washington post he had been cited by the new york times and a.b.c. news as an al qaeda expert and so what i think the white house was concerned about is like a lockie they wanted to silence him i think that that they were concerned that this was a guy who was telling al qaeda side of the story and they wanted it shut down and what's what's most outrageous for me as a as an american journalist is the role of the u.s. because what happened lucy is that the higher was tried in a secret corps in yemen tha

risks like a limb to report on civilian casualties of air strikes it was the last interview on our locky so far as it's known before was announced that a lot he was on an assassination list and this journalist named as a hater shape he's currently in prison in yemen and he was sentenced to five years in yemeni court on terrorism related charges when there was enough outcry from locals from human rights groups president saleh drawn out a pardon for this journalist but here's the kicker scahill told artie's lucy caffein off earlier today he remains in prison today thanks to president obama and a phone call that he made to solly in february of two thousand and eleven president obama said we're very concerned about the release of despair we don't know the full extent of what happened that phone call at the white house and state department. for what it meant that obama said the u.s. . was rescinded and he continues to walk away in a prison after having been convicted in a kangaroo court and it's he's in prison because barack obama wants to close. so i'm going to give you a really basic breakd

samir khan who was killed in the same strike as a lockie and. that's anwar lottie's sixteen year old son he was killed in an air strike in yemen last october along with eight other people u.s. officials have never said why the only thing that officials have said anonymously of course to the press is that he was at the wrong place at the right at the wrong time but according to harry reid this is sixteen year old american citizen deserved to be killed that's quite a statement to make that is quite a horrifying reality of how our government functions these days and i completely out of hand this war on terror has become not only do we have democratic leaders fully supporting policies which they apparently don't understand yet which anyone with a basic knowledge of our constitution could figure out is illegal but we have a press to also let that slide and i'm happy that candy crowley asked him the question but you think a little follow up question to be in order as to how we so sure that these people deserve to be killed without ever having seen a d

strikes he was the last to interview on our lockheed car as it's known before was announced that a lockie was on the sas nation list and this journalist name is abdul ala haider shape he's currently in prison in yemen and he was sentenced to five years in yemeni court on terrorism related charges but when there is enough outcry from locals from human rights groups president saleh drawn up a pardon for this journalist but here's the kicker scahill told r.t. to see caffein off earlier today he remains in prison today thanks to president obama and a phone call that he made a solid in february of two thousand and eleven president obama said we're very concerned about the release of this guy we don't roll the full extent of what the phone call what the white house and state department. that obama said that u.s. sponsored and so that order was rescinded but he continues to walk away in a prison after everything to make a record and it's he's in prison because barack obama was in the prison. i'm going to give you a really basic breakdown of the story i suggest everybody go and read the original

terrorist threat and cannot reasonably be captured how he did this without specifically mentioning a lockie or without releasing the legal memos the administration allegedly used in that case another standout line was of the president is required to get permission from a federal court before he takes this kind of action because according to this administration due process and judicial process are not one in the same especially when it comes to national security and all this was presented by the in turn in general as an indicator of our times not a departure from our laws and our values but could that possibly be any more wrong i think that charles pierce wrote it best yesterday when he said that that statement is a quote monumental pile of crap that should embarrass every democrat who ever said an unkind word about john yoo so joining me from our studio in new york is scott horton contributing editor on legal and national security matters for harper's magazine scott thanks so much for joining us tonight and i guess i want to break some of these issues down legally with you you've got the be

at a recent speech for the full legal memo the obama administration used to justify killing anwar locky thrown strike in yemen without any due process now i'm happy to know that senator grassley also found the attorney general's speech the other week to be complete b.s. and this is what he said he said if the attorney general's going to justify targeted killings based on robust congressional oversight he needs to follow through make these documents available to congress not just give us the cliff notes in a speech to lawsuits and personally i couldn't agree more example into some of those ron wyden argued all of written letters to attorney general eric holder once again expressing their concern over secret interpretation of a portion of the patriot act that they warned about last year that they warned would make american stunned to see how this administration is carrying it out now they're not going down without a fight either and this time they even said that this operation is not as crucial to national security as executive branch officials have maintained they could've branch officia

and you shift it from the pentagon to the likes of the cia and the killing of americans like anwar locky and again this is what's out there right now and without any transparency whatsoever without any due process of any kind and we sit back and say well you know what that guy's a terrorist that's good enough well based on whose decision and if we have nobody who can say very clearly this is what we're doing this is how we're doing it this is why we're going to this is how much it's going to cause. this is the good this is the bad this is the ugly when americans can't actually decide what it is that we want to do and that's a very very serious problem for the country our jack last question before we go is there harry clinton currently in saudi arabia trying to put pressure on when it comes to iran when it comes to syria but do you think really i mean how do you how do you see that relationship playing out does somebody have the upper hand is hillary clinton going in begging for some kind of action or is it saudi arabia or you know what's going on oh yeah we're bigger i mean that's exactl

the civilians that die in the predator drones we never hear anybody would their names how about mr locky sixteen year old son he was vaporized and just disappear how about before the rain scientists who study me were assassinated because they were working on perhaps their nuclear program you know who they are and then we look at anything against the west oh and it's front page story out terrible these other countries are because they behave like human beings like they want to survive but it shows in my judgment how worked the western impression is that the so-called enemy if you will is pakistan or whatever afghanistan they're unable to conceive of the world an even handed way and so they don't understand the culture they don't understand why they're creating resentments because they're treating the other people like the world is governed by double standards we get one standard we can go in with any country we want with predator drones and that's legal they fight back and it's a war crime i want to switch topics simply too because. a year ago was when throughout through the u.n. security