In photo, the Denver-born American, Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, killed by a US drone strike in Yemen at the age of 16. 

From [HERE] A new Gallup poll released Monday morning has a surprising finding: a majority of Americans -- while supporting air strikes in foreign countries against foreign nationals suspected of Terrorism -- oppose such air strikes when used to target US citizens who are suspected Terrorists, whether at home or on foreign soil.

The reason this is surprising is that when the US actually killed a US citizen on foreign soil on the grounds that he was a suspected Terrorist -- Anwar al-Awlaki -- large majorities approved. One poll at the time reported that "a large proportion of Americans believe the US Government made the correct decision in killing a US born Islamist militant in a drone strike last month" -- specifically, that "69 percent of respondents think the action taken by the US Government to kill Anwar al-Awlaki was justified" (that included 77% Republicans and 73% Democrats approving). Another poll at the time reported that Obama's approval ratings on national security increased eight points in the wake of the Awlaki killing. Meanwhile, Obama aides ran to Politico to boast that Awlaki's corpse would be a significant asset in Obama's re-election bid.

What can explain this obvious discrepancy? Many Americans can (a) say that they oppose the targeted killings of Americans on foreign soil while simultaneously (b) supporting the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen because, for them, the term "Americans" doesn't include people like Anwar al-Awlaki. "Americans" means their aunts and uncles, their nice neighbors down the street, and anyone else who looks like them, who looks and seems "American." They don't think those people -- Americans -- should be killed without charges by the US government if they travel on vacation to Paris or go to study for a semester in London. But the concept of "Americans" most definitely does not include people with foreign and Muslim-ish names like "Anwar al-Awlaki" who wear the white robes of a Muslim imam and spend time in a place like Yemen.