The killing of bin Laden: Was it legal?

By Alan Silverleib, CNN

May 6, 2011 11:17 a.m. EDT

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
The administration says the mission leading to bin Laden's death was legal

• Experts indicate the question of legality may come down to bin Laden's reaction to the raid
• If bin Laden clearly tried to surrender, his killing may be illegal under international law
• Experts are divided on the legality of the use of U.S. troops in Pakistan

(CNN) -- Was the killing of Osama bin Laden legal under international law?
The administration says yes, absolutely. Experts are unsure.
Attorney General Eric Holder told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that the U.S. raid on bin Laden's compound was lawful "as an act of national self-defense."
Bin Laden "was the head of al Qaeda, an organization that had conducted the attacks of September the 11th," Holder said. "It's lawful to target an enemy commander in the field."
The raid "was conducted in a manner fully consistent with the laws of war," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters. Carney declined to offer specifics, but said "there is simply no question that this operation was lawful. ... (Bin Laden) had continued to plot attacks against the United States."
Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama had all issued orders to kill or capture the al Qaeda leader.

 "The authority (during the raid) was to kill bin Laden," CIA Director Leon Panetta said Tuesday during an interview with PBS. "Obviously, under the rules of engagement, if he had in fact thrown up his hands, surrendered, and didn't appear to be representing any kind of threat, then they were to capture him. But they had full authority to kill him."
A number of experts have told CNN the question of actual legality may come down to bin Laden's response at the moment U.S. Navy SEALs burst into his room.
"If a person has his hands in the air, you're not supposed to kill him," said Steven Groves, a fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation.
Navi Pillay, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, told reporters she wants a "full disclosure" of the key facts.
U.S. officials have revised their account of the assault on the compound in Pakistan. Bin Laden was not armed during the 40-minute raid, they now say, but he put up resistance to U.S. forces.
The al Qaeda leader was moving at the time he was initially shot, according to a U.S. official who has seen military reports of the incident. The official declined to describe the movements more specifically.
Asked if bin Laden tried to grab a weapon or physically attack a commando, the official would say only that "he didn't hold up his hands and surrender."
Officials earlier claimed that bin Laden was an active participant in the firefight that erupted, implying that he was armed and gave the SEALs little choice but to shoot him.
Groves, citing the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law, told CNN that, based on the most recent White House account, "there is nothing to indicate anything illegal happened."
Bin Laden, considered a combatant by virtue of his position as head of al Qaeda, needed to immediately make clear a desire to surrender, if that was his decision, in order to avoid being shot. That apparently didn't happen, Groves said.
"The United States offered bin Laden the possibility to surrender, but he refused," Martin Scheinin, the United Nations' special rapporteur for human rights, said Tuesday. "Bin Laden would have avoided destruction if he had raised a white flag."
Geoffrey Robertson, a human rights lawyer who has defended WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange among others, made clear that international law requires any killing to be done in self-defense.
If members of the SEAL team "reasonably (believed there was) a risk to themselves, then the killing was justified," Robertson asserted. But given the changing White House account of the raid, "there needs to be an inquiry," he said.
Cherif Bassiouni, head of DePaul University's International Human Rights Law Institute and a former U.N. war crimes investigator, said that the "killing of any individual sought by law enforcement in the course of a lawful arrest is always a question of facts. Did the person resist? Did the person have a deadly weapon? Were the arresting officers in fear of their lives? These are all pertinent questions."
Bassiouni stressed that any "extrajudicial execution of an unarmed person is in violation of international law."
"It is necessary for the Navy to conduct an internal investigation into the appropriateness of the use of armed force," Bassiouni told CNN. "However, it is also important not to make the Navy SEALs be the scapegoats for (any) secret orders which the public is unaware of to simply kill bin Laden no matter what."
Was the incursion of U.S. forces into Pakistani territory without the clear permission of Islamabad legal?
In response to that question, the U.S. intelligence official echoed Holder's and Carney's remarks, asserting that "since 9/11, the U.S. has had the authority to kill Osama Bin Laden."
"The operation was the subject of a rigorous legal review and was planned in strict accord with American law," the official said. "As a matter of international law, al Qaeda has attacked the United States and continues to pose an imminent threat to the United States. As such, the United States may use force against al Qaeda consistent with its inherent right to national self-defense under international law."
The operation "was conducted under the CIA's authorities contained in federal law, unlike most military operations which are under the control and legal authority of the Defense Department," the official noted.
Bin Laden was an indicted international criminal who had evaded all attempts to apprehend him, Robertson said. As a consequence, he asserted, the operation was legal.
Groves argued the use of the SEALs in Pakistan does "present complications," though he noted that there has been a "kind of a wink and a nod game (the U.S. government has) been playing with the Pakistanis for years" in terms of predator drone strikes and other attacks against Islamic extremists on Pakistani soil.
Bassiouni argued that "the mission to capture was legal, even though there are some questions under international law about one state sending its forces into another state to kidnap a person wanted for trial."
The issue first arose in the early 1960s, Bassiouni noted, when notorious Nazi Adolf Eichmann was kidnapped by Israeli agents in Argentina and subsequently brought to Israel for trial.

Half a century later, that issue remains a matter of sharp dispute.

Wesley Clark: Tough it out in Afghanistan

By Wesley K. Clark, Special to CNN

May 4, 2011 11:05 p.m. EDT

Marine Lt. Col. John Harril talks to a leader in Helmand province, Afghanistan, as 1st Lt. Jake Freeman takes notes.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Wesley Clark believes we should not withdraw military from Afghanistan too soon
• Assess intelligence found in bin Laden house and keep military capabilities in play, he says
• Clark: We must leave a strong political arrangement to avoid Taliban takeover, anarchy
• Clark: A more robust economic program that guards against corruption must be in place first

Editor's note: Wesley K. Clark, a retired Army general and NATO's former supreme allied commander in Europe, is a senior fellow at the Burkle Center for International Relations at the University of California at Los Angeles. Clark consults and advises companies in the satellite communications, biotechnology and energy fields, some with government and Department of Defense contracts. Clark was a Democratic candidate for president in the 2008 election.

(CNN) -- Behind the widespread jubilation upon the news of Osama bin Laden's death rests an important policy question: Can we now leave Afghanistan? After all, bin Laden is the reason we went there, 10 years ago. So, it's certainly a fair question.
After 10 years, more than 1,400 American lives and hundreds of billions of dollars, there's plenty of reason to seek prompt withdrawal. And with the success against bin Laden, couldn't we just call it a victory and come home?

Here are three considerations arguing for toughing it out a little longer:
First, we captured a trove of intelligence in Osama's house. Exploitation of this information could enable us to complete a much more substantial destruction of the worldwide terrorist networks that make up al Qaeda. These remaining networks still pose a threat to the United States and to other nations.
These actions will take from days to months, and we need to keep our capabilities in play until we've inflicted the maximum damage on the enemy.

Second, we need to leave behind a substantial political arrangement when we withdraw. We don't want anarchy to ensue as U.S. forces leave, nor do we want our departure to invite a repeat of the Taliban takeover of the 1990s, nor instability in Pakistan.
This argues for using the momentum of the success against bin Laden to intensify the military pressures against the Taliban, both inside Afghanistan and at their sanctuaries in Pakistan.
Creating a sense of imminent defeat in their ranks is the quickest route to a successful political settlement on the ground.
This argues for no let-up into the summer months, and then, at the peak of our military efforts, establishing a diplomatic opening through Pakistan's connections and a direct one. And it argues for using our success to strengthen Pakistan's respect for America's capabilities and will to act.

Third, transforming our mission in the region from a highly expensive military mission to a less expensive foreign defense and development mission will take time -- and it will encourage the appreciation of the U.S. as a stable, long-term player in the region.
This argues for putting in place the framework for a much more robust economic program, with a strong anti-corruption component, before we take away the military effort.

So, look for no immediate pullout of any significance. But come July, should it be possible to announce future redeployments? You bet!
And can we look forward to a draw-down at a greater rate and with a far higher chance of long-term success? No doubt about it.
Ten years after 9/11, justice has been done, a wholesale revamping of U.S. offensive and defensive anti-terrorist capabilities has been achieved, and the American people are far safer.

It's been an arduous and expensive journey for us, with some major missteps along the way, but the take-down of Osama bin Laden proves to many doubters of American power and resolve around the world that the U.S. is "back." And we have the will and capabilities to finish the job in Afghanistan.

Flight schools' owner: 'I wish I killed' bin Laden

By Rich Phillips, CNN Senior Producer

May 3, 2011 6:42 p.m. EDT

Rudi Dekkers ran Huffman Aviation, where two 9/11 terrorists practiced for their deadly flight.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Flight school owner Rudi Dekkers says he's suffered for 10 years
• Dekkers: "I think about this often. Why me? But, that's fate"
• He almost kicked out the al Qaeda members for goofing off too much
• He says the men never exhibited behaviors that would indicate they were terrorists

Naples, Florida (CNN) -- He didn't lose any friends or family on that Tuesday in September of 2011, but Rudi Dekkers achieved infamy that day, watching two of his flight school students commit murder as they steered two hijacked passenger jets into the World Trade Center towers.
Today, he celebrates the death of the al Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden.
"I wish I killed him," he told CNN. "Like a lot of people, I wish I was the one. And bravo to everyone who was behind this. The head of the snake is gone," he said.
Dekkers says he's spent the past 10 years wondering why two men would choose his Venice, Florida, flight schools to practice for the day that will go down in U.S. history as one of its greatest tragedies.
Now bin Laden may be gone, but the pain is not.
"To realize he's not there anymore takes some time ... it's a deep emotion for me," Dekkers said. "I don't have that closure yet. I feel like it is buried. But it is fine and perfect that he's out of the picture," he said.
Dekkers' life has been turned upside down ever since it became known that Mohamed Atta and Marwan Al-Shehhi came to his school, Huffman Aviation, to get their multiengine commercial pilot licenses in the summer of 2000.
A year later, Atta piloted American Airlines Flight 11 into the north tower of the World Trade Center and shortly after, Al-Shehhi steered United Airlines Flight 175 into the south tower.
Dekkers wrote a book about it, "Guilty by Association." He says the title pretty much sums up the last 10 years of his life: threatened, ostracized, forced to sell his business.
"Guilty by association is meant as a phrase to mean banks won't borrow you money. I can't get a job because I'm related to 9/11," he said.
And now, with the death of bin Laden, Dekkers is emotionally encouraged, but it's only part of the healing.
"Ten years with this emotion, do you think it's over in one day?" he asked. "They want a scapegoat ... when I met people and they found out I was affiliated with this, they turned their back."
Rudi Dekkers no longer has a flight school. He was not able to secure financing, he believes, because of his ties to the 9/11 tragedy.

Is the grocery store responsible for keeping them alive, because they bought groceries there? This is life. We're all caught up in this."
--Rudi Dekkers

He went into the swimming pool business for a while and today he runs a cellular phone business. He says that while the event remains heavy on his mind, he does not feel responsible.
"Is the grocery store responsible for keeping them alive, because they bought groceries there? This is life. We're all caught up in this," he said.
Dekkers says that both Atta and Al-Shehhi never displayed any behaviors that would have indicated they were terrorists. At one point, he says, the two men were on the verge of being kicked out of the school because they did not appear to be taking their training seriously and were too busy fooling around and not listening to their instructors. They had to be warned, and went on to become average students, Dekkers said.
"Al-Shehhi was a more likable person. He laughed and joked," said Dekkers.
"My employees called Atta 'Dead man walking.' He had a white face and no emotions and was a nasty person, very unfriendly," Dekkers told CNN
The two future terrorists went on to pass the FAA commercial pilot's test and were granted their licenses.
"I didn't know what they were about to do," Dekkers said. "I don't feel guilty at all. I couldn't do nothing about it.

"I wish I could be a hero. I think about this often. Why me? But, that's fate. You can't turn away from fate, I guess."

Death of bin Laden brings healing to old wounds

By Richard Allen Greene, CNN

May 2, 2011 8:28 p.m. EDT

• The Bible clearly justifies the killing of bin Laden, a megachurch pastor says
• American Muslims hope his death will lead to reconciliation
• Widow: "I feel better... like I can start a new chapter in my life"
• A college student shaves a friend's hair into the letters "USA"

(CNN) -- The hijacked jet planes that roared out of a clear blue sky one sunny September morning 10 years ago killed nearly 3,000 people, but the hurt they did spread far beyond the immediate death and destruction at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
The damage was mental, psychological, even spiritual.
And the death of Osama bin Laden at the hands of U.S. special operations forces may help to start some healing, said Christian and Muslim religious leaders, relatives of victims, and a generation who grew in the shadow of 9/11.

"There is a sense that justice has been done," said Joel Hunter, senior pastor of the 12,000-member Northland Church in Orlando, Florida, and a spiritual adviser to President Barack Obama.
"There is a scripture, Genesis 9:6, that says, 'He who sheds man's blood, by man his blood be shed.' There is a certain kind of sense of relief that that has been accomplished," Hunter said.
"This man was symbolic of much that threatened our country and our way of life," the pastor said.

 

 Hunter also cited the verse promising that "those who mourn will be comforted," saying they might "find some sort of solace in this event."
Those verses are much more relevant than Jesus' admonition to "turn the other cheek," he said.

"That particular scripture has to do with insult and not with self-defense," he said.
The terror attacks that bin Laden authorized are "not even in the category of forgiveness," so killing him "really is in a category that, for 99.9% of Americans, would be beyond question ... the right thing."
Diana Massaroli, whose husband died in the World Trade Center, certainly has no questions about it.
Michael Massaroli, 38, was working for Cantor Fitzgerald on the 101st floor of the North Tower on September 11, 2001, when a jet plane slammed into the floors beneath him.
His body was never found.
His son was 6 years old at the time.
His widow has been grieving ever since. But early Monday, at ground zero where the towers once stood, she said she was finally experiencing some catharsis.
"I'm missing him, but I feel that justice has been done," she said, holding a picture of Michael.
"I feel some overall calm that I haven't felt in 10 years. I never thought it would happen... never thought it would give me a feeling of closure," she said. Now, she added, "I feel better ... like I can start a new chapter in my life."
Relatives of the victims are not the only Americans feeling relief Monday morning -- American Muslims also hope the death of bin Laden will open a new chapter in history.
The 2001 attacks opened a "wound has never quite healed," said Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, formerly of the controversial Park51 Muslim community center planned for lower Manhattan, not far from the former site of the twin towers.
"The killing of Osama bin Laden is a major milestone," he said. "It expresses the sense that there is a sense of healing beginning to take place."
Far from New York City, American Muslim lawyer Asma Hasan agrees that Osama bin Laden wounded the country's Muslims, but is not sure his death with heal anything.
"The 9/11 attacks changed my life forever in a very challenging way," said Hasan, who lives in Denver, Colorado. "It's 10 years later and people still question us" American Muslims.
"We have all had to become ambassadors for our religion, we have had to condemn every terrorist attack or be labeled a supporter of terrorism," she said.
"None of us can be a quiet person that just goes to our jobs, we have all had to become multifaith activists who reach out," said Hasan, the author of "Red, White and Muslim."
"I don't think the death of Osama will change that," she said.
Steve Bernstein, whose older brother, Billy, worked in the World Trade Center, said he was "very elated" at the news bin Laden was dead.
"We have been waiting for this for a long time," he said. "I felt that it was just a great moment for the country."
He said the scenes of jubilation across the United States should not be seen as people celebrating somebody's death, but as a recognition that "everyone feels that capturing bin Laden or killing bin Laden was something that needed to be done."
Bernstein had another brother who also worked in the World Trade Center but left to go to the bank just before the first plane hit.
"He said as soon as he saw it, he knew" Billy was dead, Bernstein said. Unlike some others in the towers, Billy Bernstein did not call to say goodbye, Steve Bernstein said.
"We never heard from him," he said.
Hunting down bin Laden at last "shows the strength of America, shows we're not going to put up with it," he said, adding it would "make the terrorists think twice."
Bernstein was "a little surprised" bin Laden was buried at sea immediately after his death, he said, fearing it would fuel conspiracy theories.
But in the final analysis, he said, "the world can feel a little bit safer right now."
Another 9/11 widow, Kristen Breitweiser, said the death of bin Laden would change the world.
"My 12-year-old daughter will wake tomorrow to a safer world, hopefully a more peaceful world. And that brings me a rare sense of relief," she said in a statement, adding that she was "enormously grateful for the tireless effort and incredible courage and bravery of our counter-terrorism agents.
There were also more raucous celebrations going on at ground zero, including groups of young local men waving flags and chanting "USA! USA!"
"It took 10 years, but the fact that it happened today, we're all rejoicing," one of them told CNN, adding that "everybody in America" was celebrating the death of bin Laden.
In Oxford, Ohio, Miami University student Mike Chase celebrated by shaving a friend's hair into the letters "USA" with two red stars.
"The announcement means that when we set out to accomplish something we follow through. It's a great milestone on the fight against terrorism," the 21-year-old said.
The Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association hailed the "annihilation" of bin Laden as "triumphant news."

"I would say, 'May God have mercy on his hideous soul,' but I don't think he had one," the organization's president, Jon Adler, said. "As we draw near September 11 and mourn the loss of our loved ones, let this victory remind all that the indomitable American will stands strong and eternal."

REFLECTION-class discussion

Class discussion was better than ever because more people talked and mj, xsabiar, israel had great points and other people that talked also and i know like always i didn't talked because i'm VERY shy and i don't know i just get nervous. Immigration is a big issue in this country my question is, IS IMMIGRATRION EVER GOING TO BE ACCEPTED IN  THE U.S.? I actually have a lot of questions but whos going to answer my questions i know my mom or dad ain't. Class discussion should be posted on the internet so the world can see what we "teenagers" think about the issues in the u.s. i would want to be heared and i think a lot of us do too. Someone important should go to one our class discussions and that way they can see what great points my classmates have. I really think that the next discussion will be even better because hopefully their are going to be more of my classmates participating inluding ME. I will make sure i will bring out good points. I really think that it started off good but somehow it got to racism and it happens i mean you can't stop yourself from saying something you want to bring out.

Rescue efforts transition to recovery in hard-hit Alabama

By the CNN Wire Staff

April 29, 2011 11:37 p.m. EDT

Obama tours Alabama storm damage

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Alabama town "looks like a war zone"
• Alabama death toll rises to at least 238
• President Barack Obama: "I've never seen devastation like this"
• He promises "to do everything we can" to aid rebuilding

Read more about this story from CNN affiliates WBMA-TV and WIAT-TV.

Tuscaloosa, Alabama (CNN) -- Hopes of finding trapped survivors dwindled Friday evening in Alabama, the epicenter of storms that obliterated neighborhoods and towns and claimed scores of lives across the South.
Gov. Robert Bentley, speaking in Birmingham, said the long road to recovery will now begin.
"We've gotten past the rescue stage," Bentley said. "We have begun the recovery stage."
Earlier Friday, President Barack Obama toured rubble-strewn neighborhoods in Tuscaloosa, declaring the devastation brought by a series of powerful storms and tornadoes was beyond anything he had ever seen.
The storms killed at least 326 people in six states and left entire neighborhoods in ruins. Obama promised expedited federal aid to states affected by the tornadoes.
Has the severe weather affected you? Share stories, photos and video with iReport.
"We're going to do everything we can to help these communities rebuild," he said.

 

Wednesday's outbreak of severe weather brought what the National Weather Service categorized as a rare EF-5 tornado to one Mississippi town.
And according to the weather service, it's possible another twister was on the ground for 200 miles from Mississippi through Alabama.
The extent of the devastation became evident by Friday, when the death count in Marion County in northwest Alabama rose from three to 21, according to the state Emergency Management Agency. It said 20 people were missing.
See hi-res photos of the devastation
Marion County Sheriff Kevin Williams put the number even higher -- 29 people dead in the city of Hackleburg and six in Hamilton. The Hackleburg fatalities included 16 on the scene and 13 who died at several hospitals, he told CNN.
"It's pretty much wiped out," Williams said of the town. "It looks like a war zone."
The possible tornadoes destroyed a Wrangler clothing plant, a pharmacy, doctor's office and three schools, officials said.
Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Virginia and Louisiana
Alabama suffered the greatest of loss of life, with fatalities in 19 counties confirmed by the state Emergency Management Agency. The agency reported Friday evening that the state's death toll had risen to at least 238.
In Tuscaloosa, Obama's motorcade passed street after street of homes reduced to splinters, crushed and flipped cars, and widespread debris on the way to his first stop to visit with families affected by the storms that pounded the region Wednesday and Thursday.
"I've gotta say I've never seen devastation like this," Obama told reporters.
Tuscaloosa city officials reported 45 deaths as of Friday afternoon, but later revised that to 39 because of a counting error. That change was not immediately reflected in the state's total.
People's lives have just been turned upside down
Nearly 450 people were unaccounted for Friday afternoon in the city, although they were not necessarily missing.
The president's visit took place as emergency responders in Alabama and five other states continued to assess the damage wreaked by one of the worst outbreaks of violent weather in the southeastern United States in decades, experts said. The storms leveled neighborhoods, rendered major roads impassable and left nearly 800,000 customers still without power Friday evening.
CNN iReporter Stephen Bozek, a broadcast news major at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, snapped a photo of a U.S. flag affixed to an overturned vehicle.
"The neighborhood is torn to pieces and the flag flying represented the unity (of) this town," Bozek wrote.
In Mississippi, where 34 were confirmed dead, Gov. Haley Barbour told reporters that some people remain unaccounted for and rescuers could still find bodies in the rubble or in the waters surrounding Smithville, where 14 of the state's known death's occurred.
He said the city was a scene of "utter obliteration."
On Friday, the National Weather Service said the tornado that struck Smithville on Wednesday was an EF-5 storm with peak winds of 205 mph. The last such tornado recorded in the United States struck May 25, 2008, in Parkersburg, Iowa.
The scene at Tuscaloosa's 'Ground Zero'
The tornado, the Weather Service said, destroyed 18 homes, a post office, a police station and a water treatment system. In addition to the 14 deaths, it caused 40 injuries, the weather service said.
Obama issued a federal disaster declaration for seven Mississippi counties.
The storms also left 34 people dead in Tennessee, 15 in Georgia, five in Virginia and one in Arkansas.
In Alabama, emergency management officials said Friday that 35 teams have been deployed to Tuscaloosa and six other counties hit hardest by the storms to assist in recovery efforts.

 

 

 

 

Officials also warned Tennessee motorists not to cross the Alabama state line without filling up their tanks first. Widespread power outages and devastation from the storms have likely rendered functioning gas stations in northern Alabama hard to find, according to a statement released by officials in both states.

The storms cut swaths of death and destruction along U.S. Highway 72 in northern Alabama and Interstate 59 from Tuscaloosa County to the northeastern corner of the state.
Tuscaloosa Mayor Walter Maddox said at least one strong tornado swept through the city, leaving dozens of roads impassable and destroying hundreds of homes and businesses.
"It literally obliterated blocks and blocks of the city," Maddox said.
The city remained under a curfew for Friday night that was scheduled to expire at 6 a.m. Saturday. City officials early Friday also advised Tuscaloosa residents who live south of the Black Warrior River and east of McFarland Boulevard to boil their tap water.
Obama had signed a disaster declaration for Alabama, which enables storm victims and damaged businesses in eight counties to seek federal aid.
Outbreak could set tornado record, experts say
Such aid will be critical, Birmingham Mayor William Bell told CNN affiliate WBMA.
"It's beyond our local resources so we're going to have to get the federal government involved," Bell said. "The president assured us that he would do that."
The storms are being compared to the "super outbreak" of tornadoes on April 3 and 4, 1974, Craig Fugate, the FEMA administrator, said Thursday.

In that period, 148 tornadoes were reported in 13 states, and 330 people died. States affected were Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

Is the next immigration fight over 'anchor babies'?

By Ed Hornick, CNN

April 28, 2011 -- Updated 1716 GMT (0116 HKT)

Opponents of illegal immigration mount a small counterdemonstration last year in New York City.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• 'Anchor babies' is a term used to describe children born in the U.S. to illegal immigrants
• The U.S. Constitution says they are U.S. citizens
• Some immigration activists say the Constitution's 14th Amendment should be clarified

Washington (CNN) -- While the nation's political dialogue was hijacked over the issue of President Obama's birthplace, bubbling below the surface is the fact that a child of illegal immigrants born in the United States -- derided by some as "anchor babies" -- could one day be president.
Under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."
So under the law, children of illegal immigrants born on U.S. soil are automatically granted citizenship. It's a point backed up by the U.S. State Department and the Department of Homeland Security. However, some critics, such as U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Richard Posner, have questioned whether those children are "subject to the jurisdiction" of the U.S.
Stoking the larger debate is the fact that under the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, those children may sponsor other family members for entry into the U.S. when they reach age 21.
Critics say they, in turn, anchor family members outside the U.S. on American soil, creating an end-run for illegal immigration.
The issue is not a new one. In 1993, Sen. Harry Reid, who is now the Senate majority leader, blasted the rise in what amounts to legal illegal immigration because of the stress it places on the system.
"If you break our laws by entering this country without permission and give birth to a child, we reward that child with U.S. citizenship and guarantee a full access to all public and social services this society provides. And that's a lot of services," he said.
That position has been recently taken up by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, among others in Congress.
And state governments are taking matters into their own hands.
In February, Arizona state Sen. Ron Gould, a Republican, pushed for a bill that would ban U.S. citizenship for these babies. The proposal was later rejected.

I think most of the legal and constitutional scholars who have spoken on the issue have said the Constitution is clear on the issue of citizenship.
--Clarissa Martinez de Castro, National Council of La Raza

In January, a group known as the State Legislators for Legal Immigration proposed a legislative "fix" to prevent these babies from being citizens. The coalition of lawmakers from 40 states says the 14th Amendment has been wrongly applied to those born purposefully on U.S. soil to gain American citizenship.
The National Council of La Raza, the largest national Latino civil rights and advocacy organization in the U.S., is lashing out against recent attempts in several states to change the 14th Amendment because of anchor babies.
And the group has the backing of the American public, according to a 2010 nationwide poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. A majority of Americans -- 56% -- opposed changing the 14th Amendment; 41% favored changing it.
Clarissa Martinez de Castro, director of immigration and national campaigns for the National Council of La Raza, says opponents want to take their cause all the way to the Supreme Court.
"Even the state legislators who announced they were trying to push this measure and tinkering with the 14th Amendment acknowledge that what they're seeking is a lawsuit and to take this to the court," she said. "I think most of the legal and constitutional scholars who have spoken on the issue have said the Constitution is clear on the issue of citizenship."
Martinez de Castro said that if advocates want to change the nation's immigration policy, they should fix it rather than tinker with the Constitution.
Jon Feere, a policy expert with the nonpartisan Center for Immigration, agrees.
Feere said that even if the wording of the amendment is changed so children born to illegal immigrants are not granted U.S. citizenship, "you're still going to end up with illegal immigration and illegal immigrants having children in the U.S."
"The result of that is we have an influx of illegal immigration," he said. "So I think a lot of people feel that our immigration and citizenship system is controlled by immigrants rather than citizens, because when you think about it -- 'Who is a U.S. citizen? What will our future look like?' -- The (babies) are the ones who decide."
The American Resistance organization says "the 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868 to protect the rights of native-born Black Americans, whose rights were being denied as recently freed slaves."
The group, which describes itself as "a coalition of immigration crime fighters opposing illegal and undocumented immigration," said that the intent of the amendment "was clearly not to facilitate illegal aliens defying U.S. law at taxpayer expense."
According to a Pew Hispanic Center study released in late 2010, 79% of the 5.1 million children of unauthorized immigrants were born in the U.S.
Almost one of four children born in the U.S. in 2008 had parents who were immigrants, the study also found. Of those, 16% of the parents were legal immigrants and 8% were in the U.S. without proper documentation.

In addition, more than three-fourths of all unauthorized immigrants in the United States in March 2009 were Latinos, the study said. And nearly one of every four children under age 18 in the nation was Hispanic. That trend is likely to continue, the study found.