US Feature: Justice Department --- Yes, We Can Kill American Citizens Overseas with Drones (NBC and DeYoung)

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Rachel Maddow features the Justice Department paper, "Lawfulness of a Lethal Operation Directed Against a U.S. Citizen"

---

The United States can lawfully kill a U.S. citizen overseas if it determines the target is a “senior, operational leader” of al-Qaeda or an associated group and poses an imminent threat to the United States, according to a Justice Department document.

The document defines “imminent threat” expansively, saying it does not have to be based on intelligence about a specific attack since such actions are being “continually” planned by al-Qaeda. “In this context,” it says, “imminence must incorporate considerations of the relevant window of opportunity” as well as possible collateral damage to civilians.

It says that such determinations can be made by an “informed, high-level official of the U.S. government.”

Click to read more ...

Iran Videos: Judiciary's Larijani on Detained Sotoudeh and on US Hikers

In his public-relations tour in New York, Mohammad Javad Larijani, the head of the human rights section of the Iranian judiciary, explains to NBC television that attorney Nasrine Sotoudeh was detained in early September as "a threat to national security". The threat? "She indulged in propaganda against Islam."

In the second video, Larijani sets out a careful position on the three US hikers detained in July 2009.

Click to read more ...

Iran Video: US TV's June 2009 Interview with Attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh

An Internet-based resurrection yesterday....

In June 2009, the US network NBC carried a 99-second profile of and interview with defence attorney Nasrine Sotoudeh as part of a feature from Iran, "Behind the Veil". 

Until yesterday, I never knew of the programme --- which aired days before the Presidential election --- let alone the interview. But then, possibly because Iran's top official for human rights, Mohammad Javad Larijani, spoke with NBC as part of his PR campaign in New York, someone decided to bring the clip to everyone's attention.

So Nasrine Sotoudeh, who sits in a Tehran prison for no apparent reason other than defending the accused, makes an appearance of freedom: