2004 Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Nolan told The Daily Caller on Wednesday that if he had been elected president and were still in charge, terror leader Anwar al-Awlaki would be alive and in the United States today.
Nolan’s online advocacy group DownsizeDC.org called for President Obama’s impeachment Wednesday morning for what the organization calls an “execution.” Texas congressman Ron Paul, perhaps the major GOP presidential candidate with the strongest libertarian credentials, also referred to impeachment during a speech on Friday.
The United States “didn’t try this guy, we just executed him,” Nolan told TheDC. “We had days and days of advance notice of where he would be. We should have captured him and brought him back and then tried him
“I don’t care if is the worst person alive, He is an American citizen.”
Speaking to a group of reporters at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire on Friday, Rep. Paul said that American leaders need to think hard about “assassinating American citizens without charges.”
“al-Awlaki was born here,” said Paul. “He is an American citizen. He was never tried or charged for any crimes. No one knows if he killed anybody.”
Anwar al-Awlaki’s death as the result of a CIA drone strike has stirred up controversy and raised legal questions about the legality of targeting U.S. citizens abroad who are engaged in armed conflict against their own country.
Asked about the likelihood of removing President Obama from office over the extralegal killing of an American citizen, Nolan put the idea in context. “Impeachment doesn’t necessarily result in the removal of office,” he said. “It means that there is a trial and they examine the facts. And I think if we examine the facts we will see that there is a lot there that Obama is guilty of.”
Nolan, now a Missouri talk radio host, does not intend to run for president again. “I’m in a much better position on the radio. I can be heard by a lot more people here than if I was running for president.”
One of the subjects Nolan’s audience hears about most these days is whether Americans can trust their government– especially in matters of life and death.
“We are supposed to take the federal government at their word?” He asked. “They decided that he is guilty and so they executed him. That scares me. What if they decide that I am guilty?”