Killing dangerous Americans

Ridding the world of Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical cleric who played a role in the Detroit underwear bomb plot, mass murder at Fort Hood and the botched Times Square car bombing, was an important achievement in the war with al-Qaida.

Al-Awlaki was killed Friday in a U.S. drone attack in Yemen, along with Samir Khan, the co-editor of the al-Qaida online magazine Inspire. Their deaths punctuated the heartening success the United States has had in making "anti-American terror leader" an extremely dangerous occupation. Al-Awlaki and Khan were notorious self-proclaimed enemies of this nation. Their deaths made us all safer.

But the killings raise serious questions about the proper limits of executive power.

Al-Awlaki and Khan were American citizens. Neither was charged with a crime or allowed a trial. Their deaths may have been extrajudicial executions that violated the Fifth Amendment, which guarantees citizens the right to due process.

Khan could have been collateral damage, not a target. He was traveling with al-Awlaki when drones bombed their convoy. But President Barack Obama should be open and clear about the process and findings that led him to put al-Awlaki on a kill list.

That information is critical for the public political and legal debate the nation needs so it can determine if, and under what circumstances, it's acceptable for the government to summarily kill its citizens.