Ron Paul on Awlaki Killing: ‘Sad’ Precedent

Texas Rep. and GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul has a rule-of-law view on the killing of Anwar al Awlaki, calling the killing of an American by the U.S. Government “sad.”

Paul was asked about the death of the suspected terrorist in Yemen at an event this morning in New Hampshire.

“That’s not a good way to deal with our problems,” he said of the drone strike in Yemen that killed Awlaki.

“He was born here,” said Paul. “He is an American citizen. He was never tried or charged with any crime. Nobody knows if he killed anyone.”

And Paul said the precedent of striking against Americans, even those suspected of being terrorist masterminds, is not a good one.

“If the American people accept this blindly and casually -  have a precedent of an American president assanating people who he thinks are bad. I think it that’s sad,” he said.

Read more on the U.S. case against Awlaki from ABC’s Jake Tapper.

Paul’s will be the minority view among politicians.

Rick Perry, the Texas Governor and Republican presidential candidate, spoke this morning in Georgia and praised the U.S. military for their role.

“”This man that they removed from doing any further harm, Al Awlaki, was the next generation of Al Qaeda, who they spread their message of violence using the internet in particular. His death will be quite a serious setback for that organization,” said Perry.