targeted assassinations

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Barack Obama, extraordinary rendition, Germany, History, International Law, Nobel Lecture, Nobel Peace Prize, Oslo, self-defense, State Department Legal Adviser, targeted assassinations, targeted killings, U.N. Charter, U.S. Military, United States, use of force, vision of peace November 11, 2019

REPRISE (2019) — Veterans’ Day, 2011: “Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?”

Originally published on November 11, 2011 My uncle died in a field in northern France with a German bullet in his head. To him, and…

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"that spark of the divine", Africa, CIA, Dictatorship, elections, extrajudicial execution, extraordinary rendering, extraordinary rendition, human rights, Intelligence, internal supporters of human rights, International Law, Latin America, Nobel Peace Prize, religious belief, Rule of Law, Torture, U.S. Constitution, U.S. Intervention January 15, 2018

REPRISE: Remembering Martin Luther King, Jr.

Originally Posted By: The Observer January 18, 2016 Today is Martin Luther King day in the United States, a national holiday. It is a good…

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Barack Obama, Crimea, Crimes Against Humanity, Deutschland, extrajudicial execution, extraordinary rendering, extraordinary rendition, France, Germany, History, human rights, internal supporters of human rights, International Law, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Libya, NATO, Nobel Lecture, Nobel Peace Prize, Nuclear Proliferation, nuclear war, OSCE, Oslo, Russia, sanctions, Saudi Arabia, self-defense, State Department, State Department Legal Adviser, syria, Taliban, targeted assassinations, targeted killings, Torture, U.N. Charter, U.N. Security Council, U.S. Intervention, U.S. Military, Ukraine, United States, use of force, vision of peace, Vladimir Putin, war crimes November 11, 2015

REPRISE: Veterans’ Day, 2011: “Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?”

First published, November 11, 2011 My uncle died in a field in northern France with a German bullet in his head. To him, and all…

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"that spark of the divine", Barack Obama, China, Crimea, Crimes Against Humanity, Deutschland, extrajudicial execution, extraordinary rendering, extraordinary rendition, France, Germany, History, human rights, internal supporters of human rights, International Law, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Libya, Nobel Lecture, Nobel Peace Prize, Nuclear Proliferation, Oslo, Russia, sanctions, Saudi Arabia, self-defense, State Department, State Department Legal Adviser, syria, Taliban, targeted assassinations, targeted killings, Torture, U.N. Charter, U.N. Security Council, U.S. Intervention, U.S. Military, Ukraine, United States, use of force, vision of peace, Vladimir Putin, war crimes November 11, 2014

REPRISE: Veterans’ Day, 2011: “Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?”

First published, November 11, 2011 My uncle died in a field in northern France with a German bullet in his head. To him, and all…

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Barack Obama, CIA, extrajudicial execution, human rights, International Law, Justice Department, self-defense, State Department Legal Adviser, targeted assassinations, targeted killings, U.N. Charter, U.S. Military, United States, use of force, war crimes February 13, 2014

REPRISE: Anwar al-Aulaqi—Targeted Killings, Self-Defense, and War Crimes

Press reports indicate President Obama is considering adding or has already added the name of a U.S. citizen to the kill list for targeted assassination…

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Afghanistan, Barack Obama, CIA, extrajudicial execution, International Law, Israel, Mossad, Pakistan, self-defense, State Department, State Department Legal Adviser, Taliban, targeted assassinations, targeted killings, U.N. Charter, U.S. Military, United States, use of force, war crimes, Yemen June 3, 2012

More news and opinion on President Obama as “Executioner in Chief”

From: A Man for All Seasons (1966) William Roper: So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law! Sir Thomas More: Yes! What would…

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Afghanistan, Barack Obama, CIA, extrajudicial execution, International Law, Justice Department, NATO, self-defense, State Department, State Department Legal Adviser, targeted assassinations, targeted killings, U.N. Charter, use of force, war crimes March 24, 2012

Attorney General Eric Holder offers legal justification for targeted killings of U.S. citizens abroad

On March 5, 2012, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder offered a legal justification for U.S. targeted killings directed against U.S. citizens abroad. For the text…

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Barack Obama, China, CIA, Crimes Against Humanity, Dictatorship, elections, History, human rights, Intelligence, internal supporters of human rights, International Law, Iraq, kosovo, Libya, Middle East, NATO, Russia, Serbia, State Department, syria, targeted assassinations, targeted killings, Torture, U.N. Security Council, U.S. Congress, U.S. Intervention, U.S. Military, United States, use of force, war crimes March 8, 2012

Lack of Moral Courage at the Highest Levels—Obama’s Debacle in Syria — Update #7 (March 8)

For earlier articles on Syria by The Trenchant Observer, see the Articles on Syria page. President Obama’s response to the terror and crimes against humanity…

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Afghanistan, CIA, human rights, internal supporters of human rights, International Law, NATO, Nobel Lecture, Nobel Peace Prize, Oslo, self-defense, State Department Legal Adviser, targeted assassinations, targeted killings, U.N. Charter, U.S Foreign Relations, U.S. Military, use of force July 17, 2011

International Law and the Use of Force: Drones and Real Anarchy Unleashed Upon the World

Recently a number of articles have been published that are of particular interest with respect to the development and use of drones. See William Wan…

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Afghanistan, Barack Obama, CIA, elections, Intelligence, International Law, Pakistan, Pakistan military, Taliban, targeted assassinations, targeted killings, U.S. Military, use of force October 3, 2010

Strategic disarray in Afghanistan

“The current near-term strategy appears to be to try to kill enough of the Taliban’s leaders to force them to negotiate a settlement on terms acceptable to Hamid Karzai.”

“This war will not be won, or defeat avoided, by fine intellectual distinctions.”

“What Obama needs to do is to take the bull by the horns, and start exploring options for the early departure of Hamid Karzai. This will be a monumentally challenging task. So was D-Day in World War II.”

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Afghanistan, Barack Obama, CIA, dubai, human rights, human rights reports, International Law, NATO, Pakistan, Pakistan military, self-defense, State Department Legal Adviser, Taliban, targeted assassinations, targeted killings, U.N. Charter, U.S. Intervention, U.S. Military, united arab emirates, United States, use of force, vision of peace, Yemen August 6, 2010

UPDATE: Anwar al-Aulaqi: Targeted Killings, Self-Defense, and War Crimes

UPDATE The Center for Constitutional Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union have filed suit against the Treasury Department for rules that require them to…

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Afghanistan, Barack Obama, CIA, human rights, human rights reports, Intelligence, International Law, Justice Department, NATO, Pakistan, self-defense, State Department, State Department Legal Adviser, Taliban, targeted assassinations, targeted killings, U.N. Charter, U.S. Military, United States, use of force June 2, 2010

Targeted Killings: U.N. Special Rapporteur Alston Publishes Report to U.N. Human Rights Council

Today, Philip Alston, a highly distinguished human rights expert and U.N. Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, published a report addressing international law…

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Barack Obama, CIA, human rights, International Law, self-defense, Taliban, targeted assassinations, targeted killings, U.N. Charter, U.N. Convention Against Torture, U.S Foreign Relations, use of force April 7, 2010

Anwar al-Aulaqi: Targeted Killings, Self-Defense, and War Crimes

The United States has gotten itself into a terrible jam, having adopted the legal justification of the Bush administration for targeted killings.
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Anwar al-Aulaqi, who resides in Yemen, was previously placed on a target list maintained by the U.S. military’s Joint Special Operations Command…
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If this death warrant is executed in circumstances that do not justify the use of force in self-defense, either at the international or at the domestic level with the permission of the territorial state, its execution may constitute a war crime.
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The United States has now become an official hit squad, which will go out and kill anyone on its list of targetable individuals.

Yet it is hard to see how the United States can kill its way to peace, in Afghanistan or in the struggle against terrorists in different countries throughout the world.
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Whatever the short-term gains from the current approach, and it is far from clear that it does not create more terrorists than it kills, President Obama and his international lawyers need to rethink their approach to targeted killings.

They need to reexamine the issue, both in order to avoid extrajudicial executions and assassinations, and to shape the standards which will also guide other states in the future in deciding whether or not to put someone on a hit list and then to go out and kill him.

It is time to back off from the Wild West, and to return to civilization and the task of building out a viable international legal order.