Dave K: “And only in a Marxist state would the CIA have the right to target and assassinate these “unlawful enemy combatants”, including US citizens.”

Not true, this can also occur in a Constitutional Republic. Our Republic has totalitarian enemies; some must be justly killed in self-defense. We assassinated, or killed in combat, many enemies during our just wars in defense of life and liberty.

Jose Padilla was not assassinated by the CIA, but I do recall the assassinations that Clinton ordered at Ruby Ridge and Waco.