CIA-man Obama: Personally Oversees "Kill List"

of Targets in Secret Drone War

and asks Judge to undo order

The New York Times is reporting President Obama personally oversees a "kill list" containing the names and photos of individuals targeted for assassination in the secret U.S. drone war. According to the Times, Obama signs off on every targeted killing in Yemen and Somalia and the more complex or risky strikes in Pakistan. National Security Adviser Thomas Donilon said, "He is determined that he will make these decisions about how far and wide these operations will go." Obama is also said to personally approve every addition to the expanding "kill list." Individuals on the list include U.S. citizens, as well teenage girls as young as 17 years old. The Times quotes former White House Chief of Staff William Daley about Obama’s decision to assassinate Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen, in Yemen. According to Daley, Obama called the decision to strike the U.S.-born cleric "an easy one." Since April, the United States has carried out at least 14 drone strikes in Yemen and six in Pakistan. Over the weekend, a U.S. drone strike in Yemen killed at least five people. "Afghan authorities say at least eight family members, including six children, have been killed in a NATO air strike in the eastern province of Paktia. In other news from Afghanistan, 160 girls have been hospitalized after they were poisoned in their classrooms. A similar attack last week sent 120 girls and three teachers to a hospital. Afghan officials blamed the attacks on radicals opposed to the education of women and girls." ************************************ Other "DemocracyNow" highlights for 5/29 a selection: Obama Administration Asks Judge to Undo Order Against NDAA Indefinite Detention The Obama administration has asked a federal judge to reverse her order barring enforcement of part of the National Defense Authorization Act that permits indefinite military detention. Earlier this month, Judge Katherine Forrest struck down part of the NDAA that allows the government to indefinitely detain anyone it considers a terrorism suspect anywhere in the world without charge or trial, including U.S. citizens. The judge’s ruling came in a lawsuit filed by a group of journalists, scholars and political activists including Chris Hedges and Noam Chomsky. Radiation from Japan’s Fukushima Disaster Found in California Tuna Researchers have found radioactive bluefin tuna off the coast of California that were contaminated by last year’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant disaster in Japan. The discovery marks the first time radiation from the disaster has been found in fish that migrated into California waters. Researchers say the levels of radioactive cesium in the tuna are 10 times higher than normal, but they said the amounts are still below levels considered unsafe for humans. The ocean off Japan was contaminated last year after thousands of tons of seawater were used to cool reactors in an attempt to prevent a total nuclear meltdown following an earthquake and tsunami. DOJ Probes Reports of Rampant Sexual Abuse by Guards at Alabama Women’s Prison The U.S. Justice Department is investigating allegations of widespread sexual abuse by male guards at a women’s prison in Alabama. The probe comes after the legal aid group Equal Justice Initiative filed a complaint based on interviews with more than 50 women. The group found sexual assault and harassment had become a way of life for women prisoners who were routinely punished and often placed in segregation if they reported the abuse. One former inmate said male guards had unrestricted access to showers and would follow women to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Protester Interrupts Murdoch Hearing, Calls Tony Blair a "War Criminal" In news from Britain, an antiwar activist disrupted former prime minister Tony Blair’s testimony Monday before the judicial inquiry investigating the Rupert Murdoch spying scandal. The activist, David Lawley Wakelin, was removed from the proceedings after he called Blair a war criminal. David Lawley Wakelin: "This man should be arrested for war crimes. JPMorgan paid him off for the Iraq war three months after he invaded Iraq. He held up the Iraq Bank for 20 billion. He was then paid $6 million every year, and still is, from JPMorgan, six months after he left office. The man is a war criminal."