From the letter:
it is clear and logical that United States citizenship alone does not make such individuals immune from being targeted. Rather, it means that the government must take special care and take into account all relevant constitutional considerations, the laws of war, and other law with respect to U.S. citizens....
Such considerations allow for the use of lethal
force in a foreign country against a U.S. citizen who is a senior operational leader of al Qaida or its associated forces, and who is actively engaged in planning to kill Americans, in the following circumstances: (1) the U.S. government has determined, after a thorough and careful review, that the individual poses an imminent threat of violent attack against the United States; (2) capture is not feasible; and (3) the operation would be conducted in a manner consistent with applicable law of war principles.
As to targeting al-Awlaki, Holder says:
Al-Aulaqi was a senior operational leader of alQa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the most dangerous regional affiliate of alQa'ida and a group that has committed numerous terrorist attacks overseas and attempted multiple times to conduct terrorist attacks against the U.S. homeland. And al-Aulaqi was not just a senior leader of AQAP- he was the group's chief of external operations, intimately involved in detailed planning and putting in place plots against U.S. persons. In this role, al-Aulaqi repeatedly made clear his intent to attack U.S. persons and his hope that these attacks would take American lives.
He stresses it was al-Awlaki's actions, not his words, that landed him on the kill list.
But it was not al-Aulaqi's words that led the United States to act against him: they only served to demonstrate his intentions and state of mind, that he "pray[ ed] that Allah [would] destro[y] America and all its allies." Rather, it was al-Aulaqi's actions and, in particular, his direct personal involvement in the continued planning and execution of terrorist attacks against the U.S. homeland- that made him a lawful target and led the United States to take action.
Holder says Al-Awlaki planned the suicide operation for undie bomber Farouq Abdulmutallab. He lists two other plots he was involved in and says he was planning others when the U.S. took him out.
He says "based on a careful evaluation of the circumstances at the time" it was not feasible to capture him. He also says Congress knew about the Administration's intent to kill al-Awlaki a year ahead of time:
Indeed, the Administration informed the relevant congressional oversight committees that it had approved the use oflethal force against al-Aulaqi in February 2010- well over a year before the operation in question- and the legal justification was subsequently explained in detail to those committees, well before action was taken against Aulaqi.
He says a document has been drafted that spells out the Obama's policy on targeted kills. It will remain classified but Congress will be briefed on it. He says it provides:
....that lethal force should not be used when it is feasible to capture a terrorist suspect. For circumstances in which capture is feasible, the policy outlines standards and procedures to ensure that operations to take into custody a terrorist suspect are conducted in accordance with all applicable law, including the laws of war. When capture is not feasible, the policy provides that lethal force may be used only when a terrorist target poses a continuing, imminent threat to Americans, and when certain other preconditions, including a requirement that no other reasonable alternatives exist to effectively address the threat, are satisfied. And in all circumstances there must be a legal basis for using force against the target.
