Jeremy Scahill Says Obama Strikes In Yemen Constitute 'Murder

Journalist Calls Obama's Drone Strikes 'Murder'
During his appearance on MSNBC's "Up With Chris Hayes" Saturday morning, Scahill repeatedly said that such attacks, when they killed innocent civilians, amounted to "murder."

Asked by Hayes why he would use such a "loaded" word to describe the strikes, Scahill responded at length.

"If someone goes into a shopping mall in pursuit of one of their enemies and opens fire on a crowd of people and guns down a bunch of innocent people in a shopping mall, they've murdered those people. When the Obama administration sets a policy where patterns of life are enough of a green light to drop missiles on people or to send in AC130s to spray them down..."

"But that wasn't the case here," interrupted retired colonel Jack Jacobs. "You're talking about a targeted person here." Scahill continued:

Scahill is the national security correspondent for The Nation, and the author of the book "Blackwater: The World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army."

He was part of a panel discussion that centered around a lengthy New York Times article published on Tuesday, which disclosed that the Obama administration maintains a "kill list" of wanted terrorists. Obama personally signs off on the killing-by-drone of many suspects, taking into account the circumstances of a possible attack, including possible civilian casualties.