Targeted killing
Encyclopedia
Targeted killing is the deliberate, specific targeting and killing, by a government or its agents, of a supposed terrorist or of a supposed "unlawful combatant
" (i.e., one taking a direct part in hostilities in the context of an armed conflict) who is not in that government's custody. The target is generally a person accused of taking part in or supporting armed conflict or terrorism
, whether by bearing arms or otherwise, and of thereby losing rights and protections such as those of the Geneva Conventions
. Targeted killing has been used by governments around the world, and has become a frequent tactic of the United States and Israel
in their fight against terrorism. The tactic can raise complex questions and lead to contentious disputes as to the legal basis for its application, who qualifies as an appropriate target, what circumstances must exist before the tactic may be employed, whether it results in greater or lesser collateral damage, and a number of other pros and cons. Opinions range from people considering it a legal form of self-defense that reduces terrorism, to people calling it an extrajudicial killing that lacks due process, and which leads to more violence.
Methods used have included firing a five-foot-long (1.5 m) Hellfire missile from a MQ-1 Predator or MQ-9 Reaper
drone
(an unmanned, remote-controlled plane), detonating a cell phone bomb, and long-range sniper
shooting. Countries such as the U.S. (in Pakistan
and Yemen
) and Israel (in the West Bank
and Gaza
) have used targeted killing to kill members of groups such as Al-Qaeda
and Hamas
.
The Predator drones, with high-precision zoom lens cameras, and video cameras with both visible-wavelength and infrared capability, that can see at night, can lock on a target for their two Hellfire missiles when they are so far away that the target can neither see them nor hear them. "Nano-drones" are now being developed for targeted killing. Approximately 2.5 inches (6.4 cm) long, like little "killer bees" they are being fashioned to even enter a room through an open window. Aerial refueling tanker drones are also being developed that will allow these drones to refuel, without ever landing.
In early 2010, with President Barack Obama
's approval, Anwar al-Awlaki
became the first U.S. citizen to be approved for targeted killing by the Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA). His targeted killing was carried out on September 30, 2011.
(ICRC) legal adviser, defines targeted killing as: "the use of lethal force attributable to a subject of international law
with the intent, premeditation, and deliberation to kill individually selected persons who are not in the physical custody of those targeting them". Another definition, by Syracuse Law
Professor William Banks and George Washington University Law School Professor Peter Raven-Hansen, is: "Premeditated killing of an individual by a government or its agents."
Georgetown Law
Professor Gary Solis
, in his 2010 book entitled The Law of Armed Conflict: International Humanitarian Law in War, defines it as:
Solis stresses that it is not considered a targeted killing unless:
"consistent with its inherent right to self-defense" under international law
in response to the 9/11 attacks. Under domestic law, U.S. targeted killings against 9/11-related entities is authorized by the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists
.
In a June 2007 debate, then-candidate Barack Obama
discussed why he believed it would be legal to use a Hellfire missile to kill Osama bin Laden
in Pakistan, even if some innocent civilians were killed in the process. He said:
In March 2010, Department of State Legal Advisor Koh said: "U.S. targeting practices, including lethal operations conducted with the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), comply with all applicable law, including the laws of war
." He said the U.S. is in "an armed conflict with al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and the associated forces", and therefore has the lawful right to use lethal force to protect its citizens "consistent with its right to self-defense" under international law. Koh identified three elements that the U.S. considers when determining whether to authorize a specific targeted drone killing:
Koh said that the "rules" of U.S. targeting operations are consistent with principles of the laws of war, citing the principles of distinction and proportionality. He said that the U.S. adheres to these standards and takes great care in the "planning and execution to ensure that only legitimate objectives are targeted, and that collateral damage is kept to a minimum."
While the addition of Anwar al-Awlaki
to the U.S.'s target list was only made after U.S. National Security Council review and approval, prior judicial review of additions to the target list might be unconstitutional, according to former C.I.A. lawyer John Radsan, who teaches at the William Mitchell College of Law
, inasmuch as: "That sort of review goes to the core of presidential power".
Scott Silliman
, executive director of Duke University
's Center on Law, Ethics, and National Security, says that if the U.S. military is involved, there is: "a very sophisticated target-review process that checks and cross-checks any potential target with regard to constraints of international law, appropriateness of choice of munitions, blast effects as they relate to collateral damage, etc." The military's list is maintained by the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command.
The CIA procedure for adding names to the target list is largely non-public. Officials familiar with the program report decisions to add names to the target list are all reviewed carefully by policy people and by attorneys. These officials revealed principles such as necessity, proportionality, and limiting collateral damage (to persons and property) always apply. A memo drafted by analysts in the CIA's Counter-Terrorism Center, usually two to three pages long, that reflects the name of the suspected terrorist, the latest intelligence on his activities, and the case for why he should be added to the CIA target list, is circulated to high-level officials, including the CIA general counsel and sometimes Director Leon E. Panetta.
, the radical Yemeni-American believed to be an al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
member, who had been linked to three of the 9/11 hijackers, the Fort Hood shooter, the Christmas Day bomber, the Times Square bomber
, and others accused of terrorism. The unusual step of putting a U.S. citizen on a U.S. hit list followed a U.S. National Security Council review.
U.S. officials believed he had moved beyond recruiting for and inciting attacks against the U.S., to being an operational player participating directly in launching attacks intended to kill Americans—the standard for being put on the list. A U.S. official said: "Awlaki is a proven threat. He's being targeted." Representative Jane Harman
, Democrat of California and chairwoman of the House Subcommittee on Homeland Security, called al-Awlaki "probably the person, the terrorist, who would be terrorist No. 1 in terms of threat against us."
It was unprecedented for an American to be approved for targeted killing by the U.S. "If you are a legitimate military target abroad—a part of an enemy force—the fact that you're a U.S. citizen doesn't change that", said Michael Edney, deputy legal adviser to the National Security Council from 2007 until 2009.
Al-Awlaki's targeted killing was carried out in September 2011. Two Predator drones fired Hellfire missiles at a vehicle in which he and other suspected al Qaeda members were driving in the northern al-Jawf
province of Yemen, killing them. The strike was carried out by Joint Special Operations Command, under the direction of the CIA.
(CIA) officials became concerned in 2008 that targets in Pakistan were being tipped off to pending U.S. strikes by Pakistani intelligence, when the U.S. requested Pakistani permission prior to launching targeted killing attacks. The Bush administration therefore decided in August 2008 to abandon the practice of obtaining Pakistani government permission before launching missiles from drones, and in the next six months the CIA carried out at least 38 Predator targeted killing strikes in northwest Pakistan, compared with 10 in 2006 and 2007 combined. The Predators were launched from Pakistani military airstrips, but operated (and missiles launched) by CIA pilots in the U.S.
The Predator strikes killed at least nine senior al-Qaeda leaders, and dozens of lower-ranking operatives, depleting its operational tier in what U.S. officials described as the most serious disruption of al-Qaeda since 2001. It was reported that the Predator strikes took such a toll on al-Qaeda that militants began turning violently on one another out of confusion and distrust. A senior U.S. counter-terrorism official said: "They have started hunting down people who they think are responsible" for security breaches. "People are showing up dead, or disappearing."
By October 2009, the CIA said they had killed more than half of the 20 most wanted al-Qaeda terrorist suspects in targeted killings. By May 2010, counterterrorism officials said that drone strikes in the Pakistani tribal areas had killed more than 500 militants since 2008, and no more than 30 (5%) nearby civilians—mainly family members who lived and traveled with the targets. Drones linger overhead after a strike, in some cases for hours, to enable the CIA to count the bodies and determine who is a civilian. A Pakistani intelligence officer gave a higher estimate of civilian casualties, saying 20% of total deaths were civilians or non-combatants.
There are concerns that the list of targets for targeted killings is constantly expanded. What began as an exceptional operation against key terrorist masterminds turned into routine practice. Reportedly it was even proposed to add Afghan drug lords to the target list in addition to Islamist militiants.
led a team that infiltrated Beirut. Barak was wearing a dress, stuffed brassiere, high heels, blue eyeliner, and a woman's wig, and carrying an over-sized purse stuffed with explosives ("I was a brunette, I had a strawberry blonde behind me", Barak recalled, with a small smile). They killed three accused terrorists who were senior members of the PLO who had been accused of murdering 11 Israeli athletes
at the Munich Olympics (including executive members Muhammad Youssef al-Najjar
and Kamal Nasser
).
Israel again began using targeted killings in January 1996. It has engaged in targeted killings openly since September 2000, when in the wake of the launch of the Second Intifada the number of its targeted killings increased. Between the beginning of the Second Intifada in September 2000, and September 1, 2002, more than 415 Israeli civilians were killed and more than 2,000 maimed or injured (not including soldiers killed.) Between September 2000 and August 2011, Israel carried out 251 successful recognized targeted killings in the Palestinian territories.
In 2000, Barak secretly asked Daniel Reisner
, a legal adviser to Arab-Israeli peace talks and Head of the International Law Branch of the Israel Defense Forces
(IDF) Legal Division, to determine whether targeted killings were legal. Reisner concluded that they were legal, with six conditions: that arrest is impossible; that targets are combatants; that senior cabinet members approve each attack; that civilian casualties are minimized; that operations are limited to areas not under Israeli control; and that targets are identified as a future threat. Unlike prison sentences, targeted killing cannot be meted out as punishment for past behavior, Reisner said. In 2002, a military panel confirmed that targeting cannot be for revenge, but only for deterrence.
Reisner was often consulted at the target killing planning meetings, which he described as "very, very trying. Especially when I said it's okay. I'd go back to my office and ask my deputy, 'Do you agree?' It's a frightening process to be involved in, sitting in a room and talking about killing someone. It's enough to make your skin crawl." But once the evidence was presented, Reisner said, when they identified the cafe the terrorist was planning to blow up, or the movie theater he hoped to destroy, "you're reminded of what you're trying to avoid."
In determining the location of its targets, Israel cross-checks a combination of sources, including wiretapping experts, spy drone technicians, and Palestinian informants. Engineers run computer analyses of any targeted building, assessing its cement, its structure, and the size of its rooms, so as to be effective while at the same time limiting collateral damage.
To limit collateral damage, Professor Asa Kasher
, co-author of the IDF code of ethics, professor of professional ethics at Tel Aviv University
, and academic adviser at the IDF College of National Defense, said:
Elyezer Shkedy, former Israeli Air Force
(IAF) commander, said IAF operations only comprised 5% of targeted killings in 2003–04, while in 2007–08, IAF strikes comprised 50–70% of targeted killing operations. "Bystander fatalities" decreased from 50-of-100 Palestinians killed (1:1 ratio), to 1-in-25 (24:1 ratio). In the final months of 2007, 98 terrorists were killed with a single bystander fatality (98:1 ratio).
While the IAF does not provide detailed data of its operations, the communication director for the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem
(the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories), Sarit Michaeli, acknowledged improvements in IAF accuracy. B'Tselem estimated that 339 Palestinians were killed in targeted killing operations from 2000–06, 210 of whom were targets, while the rest were bystanders.
is a legitimate form of self-defense against terrorists, and outlined several conditions for its use, in an opinion written by Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch
.
The head of the IDF's international law department, Colonel Pnina Sharvit, said that "everything in the decision is compatible with our existing policy." A spokesman for Hamas criticized the decision, saying it "gives judicial cover for terrorist practices by the government."
Self-defense
Targeted killing is justified by its proponents on the basis of national self-defense, with the nation defending its citizens from danger to their lives posed by acts of terrorism. Judge Abraham Sofaer, former federal judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
, wrote: "It is essential not to allow loaded rhetoric to obscure the propriety of lawfully using deadly force in self-defense."
"Targeted killing absolutely is the implementation, the manifestation of aggressive, preemptive self-defense based on Article 51 of the United Nations Charter
", said Amos Guiora, Professor of law at the University of Utah. Similarly, Harold Koh, the U.S. State Department's legal adviser, said in March 2010 that the U.S.'s drone strikes against al-Qaeda and its allies were lawful under the general principle of self-defense.
Various proponents have supported targeted killings of those who lead, inspire, and provide religious sanction for terrorists, asserting that the fact that they may not have been physically involved in committing such crimes does not reduce their role or responsibility. They also stress that inasmuch as it is self-defense, it is not murder, and thus it is a killing—but not a crime.
Leadership vacuums and disorganization
Some argue that the killings may produce leadership vacuums, eliminate skilled operatives, and lead to disorganization in the terrorist organizations.
Reduces terrorist attacks
They argue that targeted killings have reduced the number and effectiveness of terrorist attacks over the long term. After Israel adopted a policy of targeted killings, deaths resulting from terrorist attacks by Hamas
plunged from a high of 75 in 2001, to 21 in 2005.
Harvard Law School
Professor Allan Dershowitz said: "Even during the most recent intifadah, Israel prevented thousands of acts of terrorism by target killings and arrests. I'm in favor of targeted killing of terrorists, if it can be done without collateral damage." Lieutenant General Dan Halutz
, then the Israeli Air Force commander, said "It is the most important, the most important, method of fighting terror.
George Jonas
wrote in Foreign Policy
:
Kill vs. arrest
Proponents of targeted killing are often in favor of arresting the target rather than killing him, if possible. But typically targets are high-profile suspects, whose capture is deemed impossible, or too great a risk. Tufts University
Professor of international security studies William Martel
says: "It's a pretty dicey proposition capturing somebody. You can't do a snatch and grab casually."
International law, and the principles of "proportionality" and "distinction"
As a general rule, international law permits the use of lethal force against individuals and groups that pose an imminent threat to a country.
Most legal scholars consider targeted killing as legal under the international rules of war, because the terrorists are at war with the targeting state.. Ilan Berman
, of the American Foreign Policy Council
, said that: "Under international law, the use of targeted killings, while unusual, is entirely defensible. To be sure, this is an unconventional sort of conflict, but it is nonetheless a military one, in which the laws of war are applicable." Similarly, Tamar Meisels
says, that because terrorists use military or paramilitary tactics, terrorism may be seen as a form of warfare, which implies a state of war (though not as clear-cut as a war between states). Therefore, she opines, those fighting terrorism are engaged in a war with terrorist organizations, and methods used to fight wars may be used to combat terrorism.
Others make a case that targeted killing adheres to the international law
Law of Armed Conflict principles of proportionality
and distinction
, which are intended to limit collateral damage.
George Jonas, taking note of "the astronomical casualty figures of 20th-century conflicts", writes that they:
Limit collateral damage
Israel says that while it makes significant efforts to avoid or limit civilian casualties, they are inevitable, because terrorists hide in civilian areas. As Israel's targeted killing campaign developed, Hamas's senior bomb-makers, strategists, and developers of the Qassam rocket
began to surround themselves with children. Max Boot
, the Olin senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations
, pointed out that "terrorists often hide among civilians precisely because they know that—unlike them—Americans or Israelis shrink from slaughtering innocents, even inadvertently.
Israeli Major General Amos Yadlin
, chief of military intelligence, said: "We face a tragic dilemma. A terrorist is going to enter a restaurant and blow up 20 people. But if we blow up his car, three innocent people in the car will die. How do we explain it to ourselves?" Upon waking up "horrified" after a targeted killing in 2002 killed 15 Palestinian civilians, Yadlin called Asa Kasher
, a philosophy professor, and began working on ethical guidelines for fighting terrorism. They also asked a mathematician to write a formula to determine an acceptable number of civilian casualties per dead terrorist; he was not successful.
Through 2006, Israel had called off more than half of all targeted operations, because of danger to non-combatants. Israeli Major General Eliezer Shkedy said collateral damage decreased from 1 civilian death per targeted killing in 2002, to 1 civilian death for every 25 terrorists killed in 2005. This was in part due to technology, as Yaalon, military chief of staff from 2002 to 2005, asked that smaller warheads be manufactured.
"I am sorry from the depths of my heart for the unintended deaths of innocent people in Gaza", Israeli Prime Minister Olmert said, but he said his top responsibility was to protect Israelis against attacks launched from Gaza. "The lives and security of the citizens of Sderot
are no less important to me, if not more important", he said, referring to the town most often targeted by Qassam rockets. While expressing sorrow for civilian casualties, he also said he was concerned that some blur the moral distinction between the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) killing terrorists, with some regrettable collateral damage that the IDF tries carefully to avoid, and Arab terrorists deliberately killing civilians. "I don't believe that the IDF targets civilians", said Marc Garlasco, a senior military analyst at Human Rights Watch
.
As an example of how the Israelis struggle with the dilemma, on September 6, 2003, Israel had the chance to destroy the Hamas leadership at a secret meeting on one floor of a three-story home. Its security officials clashed strongly over launching the attack. Avi Dichter
, then head of Shin Bet, Israel's internal security agency, wanted to attack. "They're the terrorist dream team", he argued. But noting that there was risk to civilians on other floors, Yaalon struggled balancing the Talmud
ic precept: "If he comes to kill you, kill him first", with the Biblical commandment, "Thou shall not kill." At the end of the day, the prime minister only authorized an attack that would destroy one floor of the home where the terrorists were meeting, to lower the possibility of civilian casualties. The floor that was attacked turned out not to be the one where the Hamas leadership was meeting, and it survived unscathed. Yaalon said with a sigh: "There are no good answers. When I sign the orders, my hand trembles."
The Israeli Supreme Court held in 2006 that:
The CIA often uses specially designed missiles which have a small blast field and minimal shrapnel in order to limit collateral damage.
International law
One criticism asserts that targeted killing is incompatible with international law
, which prohibits extrajudicial killings that lack due process
. The position of Amnesty International
, the human rights organization, has been understood to mean that such due process must be afforded even in an armed conflict. Also, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan
and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw
said Israel's targeted killing of Yassin violated international law.
Some human rights organizations, for example, presuming (which may not always be the case) that the terrorist is within the jurisdiction of the acting state, maintain that terrorist should be arrested, put on trial, and found guilty before any punishment is meted out. Human Rights Watch, while stating that the Palestinian terrorists had violated the Geneva Convention admonition that "civilian population as such, as well as individual civilians, shall not be the object of attack" had committed "war crimes" and "crimes against humanity", at the same time condemned Israel's "extra-judicial killings."
In May 2005, Amnesty called upon the U.S. "to end immediately all operations aimed at killing suspects instead of arresting them, investigate all past suspected cases of extrajudicial executions, and revoke all orders that may allow extrajudicial executions", and opined that "hypocrisy, secrecy, an overarching war mentality and a disregard for international human rights law continues to mark the USA's conduct in the "war on terror". In January 2006, Amnesty referred to Israel's targeted killings as "extrajudicial executions/assassinations". In July 2006, Amnesty said it was "deeply concerned" that the U.S. appeared to be carrying out "extrajudicial executions in clear violation of its obligations under international human rights law, including Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
. These are cases in which the USA has apparently deliberately killed or attempted to kill suspects in lieu of arrest including in countries where there is no ongoing armed conflict." In December 2006, Amnesty called targeted killings "extrajudicial executions", and asserted that they were being used as a "substitute for arrest and prosecution".
Philip Alston
, the United Nations special representative on extrajudicial executions, said
in a June 2010 report to the UN Human Rights Council
that a targeted killing outside of an armed conflict "is almost never likely to be legal", and rejected "pre-emptive self-defense" as a justification for killing terrorism suspects far from combat zones.
George Jonas
notes a curious corollary to the surgical nature of such killings: "Governments can bomb faceless troops of enemy conscripts with impunity, but are questioned closely about bombing photographable individuals. Numbers numb; identity humanizes. That's the general rule."
Human rights
Amnesty International has lodged complaints with the U.S. administration following targeted killing Predator strikes. The American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU), in an April 2010 letter to President Obama, said that international humanitarian law prohibits targeted killing, except in order to prevent an individual's future participation in
hostilities.
Collateral damage
Criticism often also focuses on the killing of innocent victims in heavy-handed failed targeted killings, or those based on faulty intelligence, in which civilians may be killed. An example given is Israel's July 2002 targeted killing of Salah Shehade, in which 14 others, including 9 children, were killed due to faulty intelligence that civilians would not be in the house. Some international human rights groups called for criminal charges against Israeli officers.
Another example given is the January 2006 CIA Predator attack in the northern Pakistani village of Damadola
, where U.S. intelligence believed al-Qaeda's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri
, was meeting with a group of extremists. At least four al-Qaeda members were killed in the attack, but Zawahiri was not present, and 18 civilians—including five children—were reportedly killed, setting off angry demonstrations across Pakistan against the U.S. Senator John McCain
(R-AZ) said: "It's terrible when innocent people are killed; we regret that. But we have to do what we think is necessary to take out al-Qaeda, particularly the top operatives."
In June 2006, Kofi Annan said he "deeply deplores" the killing of three children in Gaza in "an attempted Israeli targeted killing of alleged militants", and called on Israel "to respect international law and to ensure that its actions are proportionate and do not put civilians at grave risk."
Sovereignty
While targeted killings are sometimes launched with the consent of the "host" country, sometimes that is not the case, raising the issue of sovereignty.
Increase in extremism
Some have also said that targeted killing should be curtailed, because it can be unpopular in the host country, such as Pakistan, and can coalesce the local population around the extremists.
Destabilizing, and causes violence
Another criticism is the assertion that it is destabilizing to local situations, and thus causes more violence, an opinion held by intermediary Álvaro de Soto
, former UN Middle East peace envoy, and by Jeffrey Addicott, who served as the senior legal adviser to the U.S. Army Special Operations Forces, the Green Berets
. Under this view, it can lead to retaliatory violence, create martyrs, cause embitterment, and complicate peace negotiations.
Non-transparent
Political philosopher Michael Walzer
, professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study
and editor of the intellectual quarterly Dissent
, said that in the interest of transparency, when a government kills people, it should make clear whom it is trying to kill, why it is trying to kill them, and whom it has killed so that people can hold the government accountable and make sure that it's not abusing power. The ACLU as well, in its April 2010 letter to President Obama, chided him for keeping the targeted killing process secret.
To counter the lack of transparency, in January 2010, the ACLU filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request asking that the U.S. government disclose the legal basis for its use of predator drones to conduct targeted killings. The ACLU is seeking to find out when, where, and against whom drone strikes can be authorized, and how the U.S. ensures compliance with international laws relating to extrajudicial killings. The ACLU then filed suit in March 2010, asking for information on when, where, and against whom drone strikes can be authorized, the number and rate of civilian casualties, and other such information.
Loss of intelligence
Intelligence that could be gathered by capturing and questioning the targets is lost when they are instead killed.
Increases use of military force, and can lead to chaos
Alston said that U.S. drone targeted killings outside the war zones of Afghanistan and Iraq undermine global constraints on use of military force, in part by allowing drone operators who are not on a battlefield to engage in targeted killings, and will lead to a chaos as drone technology spreads.
, the Commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force
, General David McKiernan, was asked whether Germany is a particularly difficult ally because its government requested limitations on its soldiers' deployment in Afghanistan, feeling that it might violate Germany's constitution if they were to conduct a targeted killing, in the absence of a direct attack. McKiernan responded:
In July 2009, Germany's Interior Minister
Wolfgang Schäuble
said in an interview that Berlin would have to "clarify whether our constitutional state is sufficient for confronting new threats." He said that the legal problems his office had to struggle with "extend all the way to extreme cases such as so-called targeted killing … Imagine someone knew what cave Osama bin Laden is sitting in. A remote-controlled missile could then be fired in order to kill him." The interviewer said: "Germany's federal government would probably send a public prosecutor there first, to arrest bin Laden." Schäuble responded: "And the Americans would execute him with a missile, and most people would say: 'thank God'."
That sparked a series of reactions. German President
Horst Köhler
said he doubted whether "the killing of a suspected terrorist without a trial can be done quite so easily." Peter Struck
, the parliamentary head of Germany's center-left Social Democrats (SPD), said: "It won't do for basic values of our constitution to be called into question. Human rights and the right to life are untouchable. This also goes for Osama bin Laden's life."
In December 2009, Der Spiegel questioned whether Germany had begun targeted killings of Taliban leaders in Afghanistan, based on a September 2009 U.S. air strike called in by a German colonel on two tanker trucks that had been hijacked by Taliban insurgents. The colonel said he had been afraid that the tankers could be turned into "rolling bombs", and used to attack a German base a few kilometers away.
In Spain, complaints were lodged against former IDF chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. (res.) Dan Halutz
and other six other senior Israeli political and military officials by pro-Palestinian organizations, who sought to prosecute them in Spain under the principle of universal jurisdiction
. A lower court decision ordered an inquiry into the Shehadeh killing in 2002. The Spanish Court of Appeals rejected the lower court's decision, and on appeal in April 2010 the Supreme Court of Spain upheld the Court of Appeals decision against conducting an official inquiry into the IDF's targeted killing of Shehadeh.
The U.K.
In the United Kingdom, similar complaints was brought against Halutz and other senior Israeli officials under the principle of universal jurisdiction, pertaining to involvement in approving targeted killings. The complaints were brought by Palestinian organizations such as the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, and the Israeli Yesh Gvul
movement.
The U.S.
In Matar v. Dichter, the Center for Constitutional Rights
filed a federal class action
lawsuit against Dichter in the U.S. on behalf of the Palestinians killed or injured in a 2002 targeted killing air strike in Gaza. It charged Dichter with extrajudicial killing, war crime
s, and other gross human rights violations. On April 16, 2009, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the dismissal of the case, on the basis that Dichter possesses immunity under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act
.
In Al-Aulaqi v. Obama, the American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU) and the Center for Constitutional Rights
(CCR) sued U.S. President Barack Obama, the U.S. Defense Department, and the CIA in U.S. federal court on behalf of Nasser al-Aulaqi (Anwar al-Awlaki
's father) on August 30, 2010. The plaintiffs are seeking a court order declaring that the U.S. Constitution and international law bar the government from killing U.S. citizens without due process "except as a last resort to protect against concrete, specific, and imminent threats of death or serious injury." The suit alleges that the targeted killing program violates al-Awlaki’s Fourth Amendment
right to be free from unreasonable seizure, and his Fifth Amendment
right not to be deprived of life without due process. They are also seeking an injunction blocking the U.S. government from killing Anwar al-Awlaki, and disclosure of the U.S.'s targeted killing list process and standards. A Justice Department spokesman said:
In oral argument on November 8, 2010, the parties debated the government's argument that the case should be dismissed because Awlaki's father does not have standing to bring the suit, because the policy is a matter for the President and not for the courts to decide; and because the case threatens to reveal "state secrets". The government said that if al-Awlaki wanted to bring the instant lawsuit, he could turn himself in to the U.S. and litigate the matter himself. The ACLU's counsel said the suit was just seeking to set general limits, that the government’s position was to exclude judicial oversight from the process completely, and that the risk that al-Awlaki might face indefinite detention without charge was enough to keep him from surrendering to the U.S. and litigating the case himself. The case is in front of federal District Judge John D. Bates
, who has previously disagreed with the Justice Department's assertions of executive power in a number of detention cases. Bates said he would not make a decision for several weeks on whether to dismiss the case.
On November 15, 2010, Karima Bennoune, a member of the board of trustees of CCR as well as an international law professor and human right lawyer of Muslim heritage criticized CCR's decision to represent pro bono the interests of al-Awlaki in the lawsuit. While referring to the U.S. policy as one of extrajudicial killings in violation of international law and targeted assassinations, and saying she opposed it, she noted that al-Awlaki himself is calling for assassinations as he is at large. Of the belief that it is wrong to defend the principle that assassinations are wrong "by standing silently next to an advocate of assassinations", she urged CCR to find other ways to challenge the policy without associating with al-Awlaki. The director of the Centre for the Study of Human Rights at the London School of Economics and Political Science, who was approached by the CCR for advice on al-Awlaki, said:
On December 8, 2010, U.S. District Judge John D. Bates
dismissed the lawsuit in an 83-page ruling, holding among other things that the father did not have legal standing to bring the lawsuit.
columnist Ben Macintyre
, it is a euphemism
for assassination
, Gabriella Blum and Philip Heymann defined targeted killing in "Law and Policy of Targeted Killing" as: "the deliberate assassination of a known terrorist outside the country’s territory (even in a friendly nation’s territory), usually (but not exclusively) by an airstrike", and Ibrahim Nafie, writing in Egypt's Al-Ahram Weekly
in 2001, criticized the U.S. for agreeing with "the Israeli spin that calls ... its official policy of assassinating Palestinian leaders 'targeted killing.'"
On the other hand, Professor Solis writes: "Assassination
s and targeted killings are very different acts". The use of the term assassination is opposed, as it denotes murder, whereas the terrorists are targeted in self-defense, and thus it is viewed as a killing, but not a crime.
Former Legal Advisor to the State Department Judge Sofaer wrote on the subject:
Richard James Kerr
, former Deputy Director of the CIA, said that he thinks the difference between targeted killing and assassination is important, and that part of the problem, is the very word assassination, which means "political, ideological" killings, rather than combat situations, which is the case with targeted killings.
Roger Cressey
, a former counterterrorism official in the Bush and Clinton White Houses, now a senior fellow at the Center for Law and Security at NYU, said that he doesn't like the use of the term assassination to describe targeted killings, because he thinks it can be misleading. He said:
In The Impact of 9/11 and the New Legal Landscape: The Day That Changed Everything?, the point is made that "There is a major difference between assassination and targeted killing.... targeted killing [is] not synonymous with assassination. Assassination ... constitutes an illegal killing." Similarly, Professor Guiora writes: "Targeted killing is ... not an assassination", Professor David writes: "there are strong reasons to believe that the Israeli policy of targeted killing is not the same as assassination", Professor William C. Banks and Professor Peter Raven-Hansen write: "Targeted killing of terrorists is ... not unlawful and would not constitute assassination", Rory Miller writes: "Targeted killing ... is not 'assassination'", and Associate Professor Eric Patterson and Teresa Casale write: "Perhaps most important is the legal distinction between targeted killing and assassination".
, which does not completely prohibit it, but requires presidential approval. That Executive Order, which does not define "assassination", was signed December 4, 1981, by President Reagan
, and remains in effect. It is similar to its counterparts under Presidents Ford
and Carter
(Executive Orders 11905
and 12306
). It has been construed as relating to political assassination, as distinct from the target killing of military enemies of the U.S. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer
said, furthermore, that 12333 "does not inhibit the nation's ability to act in self-defense."
In the U.S., the killing of an al-Qaeda member is an act of war, not assassination. Professor Banks explained that the ban on assassination, in effect since President Ford's executive order of 1976, would apply only to "politically inspired killings of people who are not combatants."
A December 1989 Memorandum of Law (an advisory opinion), issued by the then-Special Assistant for Law of War Matters to The Judge Advocate General of the Army, W. Hays Park, made a distinction between the prohibition on illegal assassinations in Executive Order 12333, and the lawful targeting of those posing a direct threat to the U.S. Parks defined assassination as covert acts of murder for political reasons. Then Legal Advisor to the State Department Arbaham Sofaer, stressed that prohibition “should not be limited to the planned killing only of political officials, but that it should apply to the illegal killing of any person, even an ordinary citizen, so long as the act has a political purpose.” Both legal officials said the prohibition of assassination allowed targeted killing of enemy combatants in wartime or the killing in self-defense of specific individuals who pose a direct threat to U.S. citizens or national security in peacetime.
Drawing on two classified legal memoranda, one written for President Clinton in 1998 and one after 9/11, the Bush administration concluded that executive orders banning assassination do not prevent the president from lawfully targeting a terrorist for death by covert action. In 2001, Bush signed a more encompassing intelligence "finding" calling for attacks on newly identified weaknesses in Osama bin Laden's communications, security apparatus, and infrastructure, and granting the CIA and Defense Department expanded powers to engage in targeted killings. Bush's directive broadened the class of potential targets beyond bin Laden and his immediate circle of operational planners, and beyond Afghanistan. Bush was plain about his intention for the U.S. to find and kill bin Laden.
The Bush administration's update of that analysis was strengthened by the Joint Resolution of Congress of September 14, 2001
, which gave the president authority to use "all necessary and appropriate force" against "persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001 [and] in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States." Assistant Secretary of Defense Lawrence Korb
said that: "the congressional authorization of force gave [the president] the power to [authorize targeted killings]."
After the U.S.'s 2002 targeted killing of al-Harethi and five other suspected al-Qaeda members in the Yemeni desert, a U.S. administration official said the attack was considered a targeted killing, and not an assassination. Similarly, Harold Koh, the U.S. State Department's legal adviser, said in March 2010 that the U.S.'s drone strikes against al-Qaeda and its allies were lawful targeted killing, as part of the military action authorized by Congress, and not assassination, which is banned by executive order.
capability that can see at night, can lock on a target for their two Hellfire missiles when they are so far away that the target can neither see them (unless the drone is below 15000 feet (4,572 m)) nor hear them. Predators are 27 feet (8.2 m) long, have a wingspan of 48.7 feet (14.8 m), and are 6.9 feet (2.1 m) high, and can fly at speeds up to 135 mi/h and at heights up to 25000 feet (7,620 m). They can fly 400 nautical miles (740.8 km) to a target, loiter overhead for 14 hours, and then return to their base. Reapers have a wingspan of 66 feet (20.1 m), and are 12.5 feet (3.8 m) high. They can fly at speeds up to 300 mi/h, and at heights up to 50000 feet (15,240 m), and can fly for 14–28 hours (14 hours fully loaded).
"Nano-drones" are now being developed for targeted killing, that are about 2.5 inches (6.4 cm) long, which like little killer bees will be able to follow their target, even entering a room through an open window. Aerial refueling tanker drones are also being developed that will allow these drones to refuel, without ever landing.
}
}
Unlawful combatant
An unlawful combatant or unprivileged combatant/belligerent is a civilian who directly engages in armed conflict in violation of the laws of war. An unlawful combatant may be detained or prosecuted under the domestic law of the detaining state for such action.The Geneva Conventions apply in wars...
" (i.e., one taking a direct part in hostilities in the context of an armed conflict) who is not in that government's custody. The target is generally a person accused of taking part in or supporting armed conflict or terrorism
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
, whether by bearing arms or otherwise, and of thereby losing rights and protections such as those of the Geneva Conventions
Geneva Conventions
The Geneva Conventions comprise four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish the standards of international law for the humanitarian treatment of the victims of war...
. Targeted killing has been used by governments around the world, and has become a frequent tactic of the United States and Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
in their fight against terrorism. The tactic can raise complex questions and lead to contentious disputes as to the legal basis for its application, who qualifies as an appropriate target, what circumstances must exist before the tactic may be employed, whether it results in greater or lesser collateral damage, and a number of other pros and cons. Opinions range from people considering it a legal form of self-defense that reduces terrorism, to people calling it an extrajudicial killing that lacks due process, and which leads to more violence.
Methods used have included firing a five-foot-long (1.5 m) Hellfire missile from a MQ-1 Predator or MQ-9 Reaper
MQ-9 Reaper
The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper is an unmanned aerial vehicle , capable of remote controlled or autonomous flight operations, developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems for use by the United States Air Force, the United States Navy, the CIA, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Royal...
drone
Unmanned aerial vehicle
An unmanned aerial vehicle , also known as a unmanned aircraft system , remotely piloted aircraft or unmanned aircraft, is a machine which functions either by the remote control of a navigator or pilot or autonomously, that is, as a self-directing entity...
(an unmanned, remote-controlled plane), detonating a cell phone bomb, and long-range sniper
Sniper
A sniper is a marksman who shoots targets from concealed positions or distances exceeding the capabilities of regular personnel. Snipers typically have specialized training and distinct high-precision rifles....
shooting. Countries such as the U.S. (in Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
and Yemen
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
) and Israel (in the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
and Gaza
Gaza
Gaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...
) have used targeted killing to kill members of groups such as Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
and Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
.
The Predator drones, with high-precision zoom lens cameras, and video cameras with both visible-wavelength and infrared capability, that can see at night, can lock on a target for their two Hellfire missiles when they are so far away that the target can neither see them nor hear them. "Nano-drones" are now being developed for targeted killing. Approximately 2.5 inches (6.4 cm) long, like little "killer bees" they are being fashioned to even enter a room through an open window. Aerial refueling tanker drones are also being developed that will allow these drones to refuel, without ever landing.
In early 2010, with President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
's approval, Anwar al-Awlaki
Anwar al-Awlaki
Anwar al-Awlaki was an American and Yemeni imam who was an engineer and educator by training. According to U.S. government officials, he was a senior talent recruiter and motivator who was involved with planning operations for the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda...
became the first U.S. citizen to be approved for targeted killing by the Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
(CIA). His targeted killing was carried out on September 30, 2011.
Definition
There is no universally agreed-upon definition of targeted killing. Nils Melzer, an author and an International Committee of the Red CrossInternational Committee of the Red Cross
The International Committee of the Red Cross is a private humanitarian institution based in Geneva, Switzerland. States parties to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977 and 2005, have given the ICRC a mandate to protect the victims of international and...
(ICRC) legal adviser, defines targeted killing as: "the use of lethal force attributable to a subject of international law
International law
Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
with the intent, premeditation, and deliberation to kill individually selected persons who are not in the physical custody of those targeting them". Another definition, by Syracuse Law
Syracuse University College of Law
Syracuse University College of Law , founded in 1895, is a Juris Doctor degree-granting law school of Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York. It is one of only four law schools in Upstate New York Syracuse University College of Law (SUCOL), founded in 1895, is a Juris Doctor degree-granting law...
Professor William Banks and George Washington University Law School Professor Peter Raven-Hansen, is: "Premeditated killing of an individual by a government or its agents."
Georgetown Law
Georgetown University Law Center
Georgetown University Law Center is the law school of Georgetown University, located in Washington, D.C.. Established in 1870, the Law Center offers J.D., LL.M., and S.J.D. degrees in law...
Professor Gary Solis
Gary D. Solis
Gary D. Solis is an Adjunct Professor of Law who teaches the laws of war at the Georgetown University Law Center. He is an expert on the laws of war....
, in his 2010 book entitled The Law of Armed Conflict: International Humanitarian Law in War, defines it as:
the intentional killing of a specific civilian or unlawful combatant who cannot reasonably be apprehended, who is taking a direct part in hostilities, the targeting done at the direction of the state, in the context of an international or non-international armed conflict.
Solis stresses that it is not considered a targeted killing unless:
- An armed conflict is in progress (as otherwise it would be considered a homicideHomicideHomicide refers to the act of a human killing another human. Murder, for example, is a type of homicide. It can also describe a person who has committed such an act, though this use is rare in modern English...
, and a domestic crime; it is the armed conflict that affords a combatant the right to kill an enemy); - The target is a specific individual, who is targeted because of his activities in relation to the armed conflict (under the Third Geneva ConventionThird Geneva ConventionThe Third Geneva Convention, relative to the treatment of prisoners of war, is one of the four treaties of the Geneva Conventions. It was first adopted in 1929, but was significantly updated in 1949...
the civilian loses his immunity from being targeted when he takes part in such activities, which would include for example delivering ammunition, or gathering military intelligence in enemy territory); - The target cannot be easily arrested. (Though not in any law, human rightsHuman rightsHuman rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
concerns suggest this); - The killing is authorized by a senior official, taking into consideration the difficult issue of collateral damageCollateral damageCollateral damage is damage to people or property that is unintended or incidental to the intended outcome. The phrase is prevalently used as an euphemism for civilian casualties of a military action.-Etymology:...
. A targeted killing could be authorized in the U.S. by the President (or his designee, or two-star generals and above in the combat zone), and in Israel by the Prime Minister (or his designee); and - The targeted individual is directly participating in hostilities, whether in a combat function or otherwise. The applicable ICRC interpretive guidance indicates that civilians who lead terrorist organizations, for example, by virtue of their position never literally pick up arms themselves, but by the same token they never lay them down, and are therefore legitimate targeted killing targets. In accord, the Judge Advocate GeneralJudge Advocate General (Canada)The Office of the Judge Advocate General for the Canadian Forces provides legal advice to commanders at bases and wings, provides lawyers who defend accused persons at courts martial, teaches courses to other CF members or advises a commanding officer in an operational theatre to uphold the ethical...
of the Canadian Armed Forces, Kenneth Watkin says: "It is not just the fighters with weapons in their hands who pose a threat". In such case, under Protocol 1 to the Geneva ConventionsGeneva ConventionsThe Geneva Conventions comprise four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish the standards of international law for the humanitarian treatment of the victims of war...
, even civilians, women, and children are not immune from attack.
Legal considerations
The U.S. views targeted killing during an armed conflict as the lawful right to use forceUse of force by states
The use of force by states is controlled by both customary international law and by treaty law. The UN Charter reads in article 2:All members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or...
"consistent with its inherent right to self-defense" under international law
International law
Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
in response to the 9/11 attacks. Under domestic law, U.S. targeted killings against 9/11-related entities is authorized by the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists
Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists
The Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists , one of two resolutions commonly known as "AUMF" , was a joint resolution passed by the United States Congress on September 14, 2001, authorizing the use of United States Armed Forces against those responsible for the attacks on...
.
In a June 2007 debate, then-candidate Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
discussed why he believed it would be legal to use a Hellfire missile to kill Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
in Pakistan, even if some innocent civilians were killed in the process. He said:
I don't believe in assassinations, but Osama bin Laden has declared war on us, killed 3,000 people, and under existing law, including international law, when you've got a military target like bin Laden, you take him out. And if you have 20 minutes, you do it swiftly and surely.
In March 2010, Department of State Legal Advisor Koh said: "U.S. targeting practices, including lethal operations conducted with the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), comply with all applicable law, including the laws of war
Laws of war
The law of war is a body of law concerning acceptable justifications to engage in war and the limits to acceptable wartime conduct...
." He said the U.S. is in "an armed conflict with al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and the associated forces", and therefore has the lawful right to use lethal force to protect its citizens "consistent with its right to self-defense" under international law. Koh identified three elements that the U.S. considers when determining whether to authorize a specific targeted drone killing:
- Imminence of the threat;
- SovereigntySovereigntySovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
of other States involved; and - Willingness and ability of those States to suppress the threat the target poses.
Koh said that the "rules" of U.S. targeting operations are consistent with principles of the laws of war, citing the principles of distinction and proportionality. He said that the U.S. adheres to these standards and takes great care in the "planning and execution to ensure that only legitimate objectives are targeted, and that collateral damage is kept to a minimum."
While the addition of Anwar al-Awlaki
Anwar al-Awlaki
Anwar al-Awlaki was an American and Yemeni imam who was an engineer and educator by training. According to U.S. government officials, he was a senior talent recruiter and motivator who was involved with planning operations for the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda...
to the U.S.'s target list was only made after U.S. National Security Council review and approval, prior judicial review of additions to the target list might be unconstitutional, according to former C.I.A. lawyer John Radsan, who teaches at the William Mitchell College of Law
William Mitchell College of Law
William Mitchell College of Law, or WMCL, is a private, independent law school located in St. Paul, Minnesota. Accredited by the American Bar Association , it offers full and part-time legal education in pursuit of the Juris Doctor degree....
, inasmuch as: "That sort of review goes to the core of presidential power".
Targeting
Before launching a targeted killing attack, the U.S. engages in a review process. The U.S. military and the CIA each maintain their own separate list of terrorists linked to al-Qaeda and its affiliates who are approved for capture or killing.Scott Silliman
Scott Silliman
Scott L. Silliman is a Professor of the Practice of Law at Duke Law School, and Executive Director of Duke Law School's Center on Law, Ethics and National Security...
, executive director of Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
's Center on Law, Ethics, and National Security, says that if the U.S. military is involved, there is: "a very sophisticated target-review process that checks and cross-checks any potential target with regard to constraints of international law, appropriateness of choice of munitions, blast effects as they relate to collateral damage, etc." The military's list is maintained by the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command.
Notable examples
Among the more notable of the U.S.'s targeted killings:- The U.S. first said it used targeted killing in November 2002, with the cooperation and approval of the government of YemenYemenThe Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
. It used a CIA-controlled high-altitude Predator drone to fire a Hellfire missile at an SUV in the Yemeni desert containing Qaed Salim Sinan al-HarethiQaed Salim Sinan al-HarethiQaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi aka Abu Ali al-Harithi was an al-Qaida operative and a citizen of Yemen who is suspected to have been the mastermind behind the October 2000 USS Cole bombing....
, a Yemeni suspected senior al-QaedaAl-QaedaAl-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
lieutenant believed to have been the mastermind behind the October 2000 USS Cole bombingUSS Cole bombingThe USS Cole Bombing, or the USS Cole Incident, was a suicide attack against the United States Navy destroyer on October 12, 2000 while it was harbored and refueled in the Yemeni port of Aden. Seventeen American sailors were killed, and 39 were injured...
that killed 17 Americans. He was on a list of targets whose capture or death had been called for by President George W. BushGeorge W. BushGeorge Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
. In addition to al-Harethi, five other occupants of the SUV were killed, all of whom were suspected al-Qaeda terrorists, and one of whom (Kamal Derwish) was an American.
- In June 2004, the U.S. killed Nek Muhammad WazirNek Muhammad WazirNek Muhammad Wazir was a charismatic Pashtun military leader.He was killed in a US drone strike in South Waziristan, FATA, Pakistan in June, 2004...
, a Taliban commander and al-Qaeda facilitator, along with five others, in an apparent Predator missile strike in South WaziristanSouth WaziristanSouth Waziristan is the southern part of Waziristan, a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan and covering some 11,585 km² . Waziristan comprises the area west and southwest of Peshawar between the Tochi River to the north and the Gomal River to the south, forming...
, Pakistan.
- In March 2005, Haitham al-YemeniHaitham al-YemeniHaitham al-Yemeni was an al Qaeda explosives expert from Yemen. He was killed in North Waziristan, northwest Pakistan, near the Afghanistan border, in early March 2005 in a drone attack by an unmanned CIA-operated RQ-1 Predator aircraft...
, a Yemeni al-Qaeda explosives expert, was killed in North WaziristanNorth WaziristanNorth Waziristan is the northern part of Waziristan, a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan and covering . Waziristan comprises the area west and south-west of Peshawar between the Tochi river to the north and the Gomal river to the south, forming part of Pakistan's...
, Pakistan, in a CIA-operated Predator attack.
- In December 2005, Abu Hamza RabiaAbu Hamza RabiaAbu Hamza Rabia was an Egyptian member of al-Qaeda, described in news accounts as a high-ranking leader within the organization's hierarchy. His death, in a surprise drone attack, was widely reported by media outlets around the world.According to American intelligence officials, Rabia was...
, an Egyptian who was reportedly al-Qaeda's third in command, was killed (along with his Syrian bodyguards and the 17-year-old son and 8-year-old nephew of the owner of the house) in a surprise drone attack in the village of Asoray, near MiranshahMiranshahMiranshah is the capital or headquarters of North Waziristan in Pakistan. It is the site of a town, which has s small airfield that was built by the British for World War II. The area in which Miranshah sits is extremely dangerous mainly due to Taliban activities and U.S. Drone...
, in North Waziristan. He and four other men, two of them also Arabs, were killed His death stirred controversy because it was Pakistani policy that U.S. forces were not allowed in the country.
- In June 2006, the U.S. killed Abu Musab al-ZarqawiAbu Musab al-ZarqawiAbu Musab al-Zarqawi ; October 30, 1966 – June 7, 2006), born Ahmad Fadeel al-Nazal al-Khalayleh was a Jordanian militant Islamist who ran a paramilitary training camp in Afghanistan...
, the Jordanian leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, responsible for bombings, beheadings, and attacks. It did so by having an F16C jet drop two 500-pound (230 kg) guided bombs (a laser-guided GBU12 and a GPSGlobal Positioning SystemThe Global Positioning System is a space-based global navigation satellite system that provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the Earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites...
-guided GBU38) on a meeting in an isolated "safe houseSafe houseIn the jargon of law enforcement and intelligence agencies, a safe house is a secure location, suitable for hiding witnesses, agents or other persons perceived as being in danger...
" 8 km (5 mi) north of BaqubahBaqubahBaqubah is the capital of Iraq's Diyala Governorate.The city is located some to the northeast of Baghdad, on the Diyala River. In 2003 it had an estimated population of some 467,900 people....
, Iraq. Six others were also killed, including his key lieutenant, spiritual adviser Sheik Abd-Al-RahmanSheik Abd-Al-RahmanSheik Abd-Al-Rahman , also Shaykh Abd Al-Rahman or Sheik Abd Al-Rahman, was the spiritual advisor to al-Qaeda in Iraq until his death in June 2006.-Death:...
, and one of his wives and their child. Tony BlairTony BlairAnthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
called al-Zarqawi's death "a strike against al-Qaeda in Iraq, and therefore a strike against al-Qaeda everywhere".
- In January 2008, Abu Laith al-LibiAbu Laith al-LibiAbu Laith al-Libi was a senior leader of the al-Qaeda movement in Afghanistan who appeared in several al-Qaeda videos. He was believed to have been active in the tribal regions of Waziristan. He also served as an al Qaeda spokesman...
, one al-Qaeda's most senior figures and on the U.S.'s Afghanistan 'wanted list', was killed in a targeted killing Predator rocket attack in Pakistan. Some intelligence sources describe him as the number three leader of al-Qaeda.
- In July 2008, Abu Khabab al-Masri, Egyptian suspected leader of al-Qaeda's chemical and biological weapons efforts, part of bin-Laden's inner circle, head of the Derunta training campDerunta training campThe Derunta training camp was one of the most well-known of many military training camps that have been alleged to have been affiliated with al Qaeda.-Training with poisons:...
in AfghanistanAfghanistanAfghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, and personal trainer of Richard Reid (the "shoe bomber") and Zacarias MoussaouiZacarias MoussaouiZacarias Moussaoui is a French citizen who was convicted of conspiring to kill citizens of the US as part of the September 11 attacks...
, was killed in an attack by U.S. drone-launched missiles on a house in South Waziristan.
- In October 2008, Khalid HabibKhalid HabibKhalid Habib was an ascending member of al-Qaeda's central structure in Pakistan and Afghanistan. His nationality has been reported as Egyptian and as Moroccan ....
, the al-Qaeda regional operations commander in Afghanistan and Pakistan described by the CIA as the fourth-ranking person in the Qaeda hierarchy, and described by the FBI as "one of the five or six most capable, most experienced terrorists in the world", and allegedly involved in plots against the West, was killed by a missile launched by a Predator as he was sitting in a Toyota station wagon, a favored vehicle of militants in the area, near Taparghai in South Waziristan.
- In November 2008, Rashid RaufRashid RaufRashid Rauf was an alleged Al-Qaeda operative. He was a dual citizen of Britain and Pakistan who was arrested in Bhawalpur, Pakistan in connection with the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot in August 2006, a day before some arrests were made in Britain...
, British/Pakistani suspected planner of a 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot2006 transatlantic aircraft plotThe 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot was a terrorist plot to detonate liquid explosives carried on board at least 10 airliners travelling from the United Kingdom to the United States and Canada...
, was killed by a missile launched from a U.S. drone on the well-guarded compound of a Taliban commander in North WaziristanNorth WaziristanNorth Waziristan is the northern part of Waziristan, a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan and covering . Waziristan comprises the area west and south-west of Peshawar between the Tochi river to the north and the Gomal river to the south, forming part of Pakistan's...
, carried out by the CIA's Special Activities DivisionSpecial Activities DivisionThe Special Activities Division is a division in the United States Central Intelligence Agency's National Clandestine Service responsible for covert operations known as "special activities"...
.
- In January 2009, Usama al-KiniUsama Al-KiniUsama Al Kini — or Osama al-Kini — was a citizen of Kenya believed to have held a senior leadership role in Al Qaeda.According to a United States military spokesmen, Al-Kini was the head of Al Qaeda's operations in Pakistan. Al-Kini was on the FBI's most wanted list...
, a Kenyan on the FBI's list of Most Wanted TerroristsFBI Most Wanted TerroristsThe Federal Bureau of Investigation's Most Wanted Terrorists is a list of fugitives who have been indicted by sitting Federal grand juries in the United States district courts, for alleged crimes of terrorism. The initial list was formed in late 2001 in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks...
since its inception in October 2001, and Sheikh Ahmed Salim SwedanSheikh Ahmed Salim SwedanSheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan was a fugitive wanted in the United States as a participant in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings. He was alleged to have purchased the Toyota and Nissan trucks used in the attacks, flying out of Nairobi to Karachi, Pakistan five days before the assault was launched...
, alleged orchestrators of the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings1998 United States embassy bombingsThe 1998 United States embassy bombings were a series of attacks that occurred on August 7, 1998, in which hundreds of people were killed in simultaneous truck bomb explosions at the United States embassies in the East African capitals of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya. The date of the...
in KenyaKenyaKenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
and TanzaniaTanzaniaThe United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
that killed 223 people, and the September 2008 Islamabad Marriott Hotel bombingIslamabad Marriott Hotel bombingThe Islamabad Marriott Hotel bombing occurred during the night of 20 September 2008, when a dump truck filled with explosives detonated in front of the Marriott Hotel in the Pakistani capital Islamabad, killing at least 54 people, injuring at least 266 and leaving a 60 ft wide, 20 ft ...
that killed 54 people, were killed in a Predator strike on an al-Qaeda "safe house" in South WaziristanSouth WaziristanSouth Waziristan is the southern part of Waziristan, a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan and covering some 11,585 km² . Waziristan comprises the area west and southwest of Peshawar between the Tochi River to the north and the Gomal River to the south, forming...
.
- In August 2009, Baitullah MehsudBaitullah MehsudBaitullah Mehsud was a leading militant in Waziristan, Pakistan, and the leader of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan . He formed the TTP from an alliance of about five militant groups in December 2007. He is thought by U.S...
, the leader of the Taliban umbrella group, Tehrik-i-Taliban PakistanTehrik-i-Taliban PakistanTehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan , alternatively referred to as the Pakistani Taliban, is an umbrella organization of various Islamist militant groups based in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas along the Afghan border in Pakistan. Most, but not all, Pakistani Taliban groups coalesce under the TTP...
(TTP), which he formed from an alliance of about five pro-Taliban groups, who was thought to have commanded up to 5,000 fighters and to have been behind numerous attacks in Pakistan including the assassination of Benazir BhuttoAssassination of Benazir BhuttoThe assassination of Benazir Bhutto occurred on 27 December 2007 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Bhutto, twice Prime Minister of Pakistan and then-leader of the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party, had been campaigning ahead of elections due in January 2008...
, was killed (along with a Taliban lieutenant, seven bodyguards, his wife, and his mother- and father-in-law) in a U.S. CIA Special Activities Division drone missile attack on his father-in-law's house in South Waziristan, where he was staying.
- In September 2009, Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, Kenyan leader of al-Qaeda in Somalia, was targeted and killed by U.S. Navy Seals strafing his vehicle in southern Somalia from two AH-6 Little Bird helicopters.
- In May 2010, Saeed al-MasriSaeed al-MasriMustafa Ahmed Muhammad Uthman Abu al-Yazid , better known as Saeed al-Masri or simply al-Masri , was an Egyptian who was alleged to have acted as the financial chief for al-Qaeda...
, Egyptian commander of operations in Afghanistan and # 3 for al-Qaeda, as well as its former financial chief, was killed in a drone airstrike in North WaziristanNorth WaziristanNorth Waziristan is the northern part of Waziristan, a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan and covering . Waziristan comprises the area west and south-west of Peshawar between the Tochi river to the north and the Gomal river to the south, forming part of Pakistan's...
.
- In May 2010 an errant US drone attack targeting al Qaeda terrorists in Wadi Abida, Yemen killed five people, among them Jaber al-Shabwani, deputy governor of Maarib province who the Yemeni government said was mediating between the government and the militants. The killing angered Shabwani's tribesmen, who in subsequent weeks fought with government security forces and attacked a major oil pipeline.
- In May 2011, Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, the Egyptian al-Qaeda's #3 and co-founder, who was commander for Afghanistan and Pakistan, was killed by a drone strike in Pakistan's Tribal AreasFederally Administered Tribal AreasThe Federally Administered Tribal Areas are a semi-autonomous tribal region in the northwest of Pakistan, lying between the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, and the neighboring country of Afghanistan. The FATA comprise seven Agencies and six FRs...
.
- In August 2011, Atiyah Abd al-RahmanAtiyah Abd al-RahmanAtiyah Abd Al Rahman was reported by the US State Department to be a senior member of al-Qaeda and a member of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group and Ansar al-Sunna...
, the Libyan al-Qaeda's #2 after Bin Laden, was killed by a CIA drone strike in Pakistan.
U.S. citizen Anwar al-Awlaki
In early 2010, President Obama authorized the targeted killing of Anwar al-AwlakiAnwar al-Awlaki
Anwar al-Awlaki was an American and Yemeni imam who was an engineer and educator by training. According to U.S. government officials, he was a senior talent recruiter and motivator who was involved with planning operations for the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda...
, the radical Yemeni-American believed to be an al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is a militant Islamist organization, primarily active in Yemen and Saudi Arabia. It was named for al-Qaeda, and says it is subordinate to that group and its now-deceased leader Osama bin Laden, a Saudi citizen whose father was born in Yemen...
member, who had been linked to three of the 9/11 hijackers, the Fort Hood shooter, the Christmas Day bomber, the Times Square bomber
Faisal Shahzad
Faisal Shahzad is a Pakistani American who attempted the May 1, 2010, Times Square car bombing. On , 2010, in Federal District Court in Manhattan he confessed to 10 counts arising from the bombing attempt...
, and others accused of terrorism. The unusual step of putting a U.S. citizen on a U.S. hit list followed a U.S. National Security Council review.
U.S. officials believed he had moved beyond recruiting for and inciting attacks against the U.S., to being an operational player participating directly in launching attacks intended to kill Americans—the standard for being put on the list. A U.S. official said: "Awlaki is a proven threat. He's being targeted." Representative Jane Harman
Jane Harman
Jane Margaret Lakes Harman is the former U.S. Representative for , serving from 1993 to 1999, and from 2001 to 2011. She is a member of the Democratic Party....
, Democrat of California and chairwoman of the House Subcommittee on Homeland Security, called al-Awlaki "probably the person, the terrorist, who would be terrorist No. 1 in terms of threat against us."
It was unprecedented for an American to be approved for targeted killing by the U.S. "If you are a legitimate military target abroad—a part of an enemy force—the fact that you're a U.S. citizen doesn't change that", said Michael Edney, deputy legal adviser to the National Security Council from 2007 until 2009.
Al-Awlaki's targeted killing was carried out in September 2011. Two Predator drones fired Hellfire missiles at a vehicle in which he and other suspected al Qaeda members were driving in the northern al-Jawf
Al Jawf Governorate
Al Jawf is a governorate of Yemen.-Districts:*Al Ghayl District*Al Hazm District*Al Humaydat District*Al Khalq District*Al Maslub District*Al Matammah District*Al Maton District*Az Zahir District*Bart Al Anan District*Khabb wa ash Sha'af District...
province of Yemen, killing them. The strike was carried out by Joint Special Operations Command, under the direction of the CIA.
Issues related to drone strikes in Pakistan
Central Intelligence AgencyCentral Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
(CIA) officials became concerned in 2008 that targets in Pakistan were being tipped off to pending U.S. strikes by Pakistani intelligence, when the U.S. requested Pakistani permission prior to launching targeted killing attacks. The Bush administration therefore decided in August 2008 to abandon the practice of obtaining Pakistani government permission before launching missiles from drones, and in the next six months the CIA carried out at least 38 Predator targeted killing strikes in northwest Pakistan, compared with 10 in 2006 and 2007 combined. The Predators were launched from Pakistani military airstrips, but operated (and missiles launched) by CIA pilots in the U.S.
The Predator strikes killed at least nine senior al-Qaeda leaders, and dozens of lower-ranking operatives, depleting its operational tier in what U.S. officials described as the most serious disruption of al-Qaeda since 2001. It was reported that the Predator strikes took such a toll on al-Qaeda that militants began turning violently on one another out of confusion and distrust. A senior U.S. counter-terrorism official said: "They have started hunting down people who they think are responsible" for security breaches. "People are showing up dead, or disappearing."
By October 2009, the CIA said they had killed more than half of the 20 most wanted al-Qaeda terrorist suspects in targeted killings. By May 2010, counterterrorism officials said that drone strikes in the Pakistani tribal areas had killed more than 500 militants since 2008, and no more than 30 (5%) nearby civilians—mainly family members who lived and traveled with the targets. Drones linger overhead after a strike, in some cases for hours, to enable the CIA to count the bodies and determine who is a civilian. A Pakistani intelligence officer gave a higher estimate of civilian casualties, saying 20% of total deaths were civilians or non-combatants.
There are concerns that the list of targets for targeted killings is constantly expanded. What began as an exceptional operation against key terrorist masterminds turned into routine practice. Reportedly it was even proposed to add Afghan drug lords to the target list in addition to Islamist militiants.
Background
Targeted killings were arguably used by Israel as far back as the 1973 Israeli raid on Lebanon. Then, future Israeli Prime Minister Ehud BarakEhud Barak
Ehud Barak is an Israeli politician who served as Prime Minister from 1999 until 2001. He was leader of the Labor Party until January 2011 and holds the posts of Minister of Defense and Deputy Prime Minister in Binyamin Netanyahu's government....
led a team that infiltrated Beirut. Barak was wearing a dress, stuffed brassiere, high heels, blue eyeliner, and a woman's wig, and carrying an over-sized purse stuffed with explosives ("I was a brunette, I had a strawberry blonde behind me", Barak recalled, with a small smile). They killed three accused terrorists who were senior members of the PLO who had been accused of murdering 11 Israeli athletes
Munich massacre
The Munich massacre is an informal name for events that occurred during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Bavaria in southern West Germany, when members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage and eventually killed by the Palestinian group Black September. Members of Black September...
at the Munich Olympics (including executive members Muhammad Youssef al-Najjar
Muhammad Youssef Al-Najjar
Muhammad Youssef Al-Najjar , commonly known as Abu Youssef, was a Palestinian militant. Originally from Yibna, he began his involvement in the General Union of Palestinian Students. When the Fatah organization formed in the late 1950s, Youssef was an early activist, traveling to Qatar to form...
and Kamal Nasser
Kamal Nasser
Kamal Nasser was a Palestinian PLO political leader, writer and poet.-Early life:Nasser was born in Gaza to a Palestinian Christian family from Bir Zeit near Ramallah. He was educated at Bir Zeit school Kamal Nasser (1925 – April 9/April 10, 1973) was a Palestinian PLO political leader, writer and...
).
Israel again began using targeted killings in January 1996. It has engaged in targeted killings openly since September 2000, when in the wake of the launch of the Second Intifada the number of its targeted killings increased. Between the beginning of the Second Intifada in September 2000, and September 1, 2002, more than 415 Israeli civilians were killed and more than 2,000 maimed or injured (not including soldiers killed.) Between September 2000 and August 2011, Israel carried out 251 successful recognized targeted killings in the Palestinian territories.
Legal considerations
In carrying out targeted killings, Israel states that it focuses on four principles of international law: proportionality, military necessity, minimizing collateral damage to innocent civilians, and no alternatives to killing. Inasmuch as going into Gaza, for example, to arrest a notorious terrorist is "a highly dangerous military operation that would put more IDF soldiers in harm's way", law professor Guiora says, "International law does not require Israel to carry out high-risk arrests."In 2000, Barak secretly asked Daniel Reisner
Daniel Reisner
Colonel Adv. Daniel Reisner is the former Head of the International Law Branch of the Israel Defense Forces Legal Division, and a partner with Herzog, Fox & Neeman.-IDF Military Advocate General's Corps:...
, a legal adviser to Arab-Israeli peace talks and Head of the International Law Branch of the Israel Defense Forces
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
(IDF) Legal Division, to determine whether targeted killings were legal. Reisner concluded that they were legal, with six conditions: that arrest is impossible; that targets are combatants; that senior cabinet members approve each attack; that civilian casualties are minimized; that operations are limited to areas not under Israeli control; and that targets are identified as a future threat. Unlike prison sentences, targeted killing cannot be meted out as punishment for past behavior, Reisner said. In 2002, a military panel confirmed that targeting cannot be for revenge, but only for deterrence.
Reisner was often consulted at the target killing planning meetings, which he described as "very, very trying. Especially when I said it's okay. I'd go back to my office and ask my deputy, 'Do you agree?' It's a frightening process to be involved in, sitting in a room and talking about killing someone. It's enough to make your skin crawl." But once the evidence was presented, Reisner said, when they identified the cafe the terrorist was planning to blow up, or the movie theater he hoped to destroy, "you're reminded of what you're trying to avoid."
Targeting, and limiting collateral damage
When the Israeli prime minister approves a target, frequently the Palestinian Authority is notified, to first give it an opportunity to arrest the target. If the target is not arrested, he is assigned a file, which contains instructions on when and where he can be killed. Specialists mark up maps–green lines for open roads where killings minimize civilian risk, red lines for congested areas to be avoided. An operation can take 200 people, and thousands of man-hours. The target's name is transferred from a short list, and typed on a laminated card. Commanders carry the cards in their pockets.In determining the location of its targets, Israel cross-checks a combination of sources, including wiretapping experts, spy drone technicians, and Palestinian informants. Engineers run computer analyses of any targeted building, assessing its cement, its structure, and the size of its rooms, so as to be effective while at the same time limiting collateral damage.
To limit collateral damage, Professor Asa Kasher
Asa Kasher
Asa Kasher is an Israeli philosopher and linguist working at Tel Aviv University, Israel.-Biography:He is noted for authorship of Israel Defense Forces's Code of Conduct...
, co-author of the IDF code of ethics, professor of professional ethics at Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University is a public university located in Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel. With nearly 30,000 students, TAU is Israel's largest university.-History:...
, and academic adviser at the IDF College of National Defense, said:
If necessary [Israel] will delay the targeted killing if [it] can do it later in a way that will not harm civilians, or at least in a way that will reduce collateral damage to civilians. Research is done to determine what is possible to minimize collateral damage. People in operation research sit and plan exactly how to kill the terrorist. What type of bomb or missile to use, whether to shoot from a helicopter or a drone, what angle to send it in, at what time of day, whether to destroy the whole building or only the room where the terrorist is, whether to send the missile through the window, etc.
Elyezer Shkedy, former Israeli Air Force
Israeli Air Force
The Israeli Air Force is the air force of the State of Israel and the aerial arm of the Israel Defense Forces. It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Independence...
(IAF) commander, said IAF operations only comprised 5% of targeted killings in 2003–04, while in 2007–08, IAF strikes comprised 50–70% of targeted killing operations. "Bystander fatalities" decreased from 50-of-100 Palestinians killed (1:1 ratio), to 1-in-25 (24:1 ratio). In the final months of 2007, 98 terrorists were killed with a single bystander fatality (98:1 ratio).
While the IAF does not provide detailed data of its operations, the communication director for the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem
B'Tselem
B'Tselem is an Israeli non-governmental organization . It calls itself "The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories"...
(the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories), Sarit Michaeli, acknowledged improvements in IAF accuracy. B'Tselem estimated that 339 Palestinians were killed in targeted killing operations from 2000–06, 210 of whom were targets, while the rest were bystanders.
Notable examples
Among the more notable of Israel's targeted killings:- In February 1992, two Israeli Air Force Apache helicopters fired Hellfire missiles at an armour-plated Mercedes traveling in southern Lebanon, killing Sheikh Abbas MusawiAbbas al-MusawiAbbas al-Musawi was an influential Shia cleric and co-founder and Secretary General of Hezbollah. He was killed by Israeli forces in 1992.Al-Musawi was born in the village of al-Nabi Shayth in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon....
, founder and secretary-general of the militant group Hizbullah, as well as his wife, six-year-old son, and five of his bodyguards.
- In January 1996, HamasHamasHamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
chief bomb-maker Yahya "The Engineer" AyyashYahya AyyashYahya Abd-al-Latif Ayyash was the chief bombmaker of Hamas and the leader of the West Bank battalion of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
, said to have orchestrated suicide bombings that resulted in the deaths of 90 Israelis, answered a cell phone that Israel's Shin Bet had booby-trapped, as he hid in a home in the Gaza StripGaza Stripthumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
. The Shin Bet then detonated the phone's 50 grams (1.8 oz) of RDXRDXRDX, an initialism for Research Department Explosive, is an explosive nitroamine widely used in military and industrial applications. It was developed as an explosive which was more powerful than TNT, and it saw wide use in WWII. RDX is also known as cyclonite, hexogen , and T4...
explosive, shearing off half his head, blowing off his hand, and killing him instantly.
- In February 2001, a sniperSniperA sniper is a marksman who shoots targets from concealed positions or distances exceeding the capabilities of regular personnel. Snipers typically have specialized training and distinct high-precision rifles....
shot Mahmoud Adani, a senior leader of Hamas suspected of involvement in two bombing attacks, from 150 yards (137.2 m) away as he was walking in the West Bank. Israeli Major GeneralMajor GeneralMajor general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
Moshe Yaalon said that Israel preferred to capture militants, however, rather than kill them.
- In August 2001, Abu Ali MustafaAbu Ali MustafaAbu Ali Mustafa , , the kunya of Mustafa Alhaj a.k.a. Mustafa Ali Zibri, was the Secretary General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine from July 2000 until he was killed by Israel forces.-Biography:...
, the Secretary General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of PalestinePopular Front for the Liberation of PalestineThe Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine is a Palestinian Marxist-Leninist organisation founded in 1967. It has consistently been the second-largest of the groups forming the Palestine Liberation Organization , the largest being Fatah...
(PFLP) who Israel charged was responsible for 10 car-bomb attacks and other shootings, was killed in a targeted killing when two Israeli Apache helicopter gunships fired two rockets through his two office windows, as he sat at his desk in RamallahRamallahRamallah is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank located 10 kilometers north of Jerusalem, adjacent to al-Bireh. It currently serves as the de facto administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority...
.
- In November 2001, Jamil Jadallah, reputedly a senior Hamas member involved in dozens of attacks against Israel, including suicide bombings in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, was killed when an Israeli helicopter gunship launched a missile at a barn in which he was hiding in HebronHebronHebron , is located in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judean Mountains, it lies 930 meters above sea level. It is the largest city in the West Bank and home to around 165,000 Palestinians, and over 500 Jewish settlers concentrated in and around the old quarter...
. The Shin Bet said he had been assembling a car bomb, to carry out a mass attack.
- In July 2002, Salah Shehade, who founded and led the military wing of Hamas, and who Israel said was responsible for hundreds of civilian deaths, was killed in a targeted killing. An Israeli F16 fighter jet launched a laser-guided one-ton precision missile at the two-story building in Gaza in which he was hiding, killing him and 14 others, including 9 children. The Israeli chief of operations and prime minister apologized officially, saying they were unaware, due to faulty intelligence, that civilians would be in the house.
- In March 2004, Sheikh Ahmed YassinAhmed YassinSheikh Ahmed Ismail Hassan Yassin was a founder of Hamas, an Islamist Palestinian paramilitary organization and political party. Yassin also served as the spiritual leader of the organization...
, quadriplegic founder and spiritual leader of Hamas, who authorized all of their terror attacks, was killed when Israeli AH64 ApacheAH-64 ApacheThe Boeing AH-64 Apache is a four-blade, twin-engine attack helicopter with a tailwheel-type landing gear arrangement, and a tandem cockpit for a two-man crew. The Apache was developed as Model 77 by Hughes Helicopters for the United States Army's Advanced Attack Helicopter program to replace the...
attack helicopterAttack helicopterAn attack helicopter is a military helicopter with the primary role of an attack aircraft, with the capability of engaging targets on the ground, such as enemy infantry and armored vehicles...
s fired three Hellfire missiles at him, killing him and seven others including several of his bodyguards, in the northern Gaza Strip.
- In April 2004, Abdel Aziz al-RantissiAbdel Aziz al-RantissiDr. Abdel Aziz Ali Abdulmajid al-Rantissi ; 23 October 1947 – 17 April 2004) was the co-founder of the militant Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas with Sheikh Ahmed Yassin....
, the co-founder and head of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, was killed in Gaza when Israeli Army AH64 Apache helicopters fired two Hellfire missiles at his car, killing him, his bodyguard, his 27-year-old son, and two civilians. "We will kill Jews everywhere", he had said. Israeli army radio said that it was the first opportunity to target Rantissi without significant collateral damage since he took over leadership of Hamas, as he had surrounded himself with human shieldHuman shieldHuman shield is a military and political term describing the deliberate placement of civilians in or around combat targets to deter an enemy from attacking those targets. It may also refer to the use of civilians to literally shield combatants during attacks, by forcing the civilians to march in...
s since the targeted killing of Yassin.
- In October 2004, Adnan al-GhoulAdnan al-GhoulAdnan Al-Ghoul was the assistant of Mohammed Deif, the leader of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas. He was eliminated in a targeted killing along with Imad Abbas when an Israeli Air Force Apache helicopter fired missiles at their car in Gaza on October 21, 2004...
, former assistant of Mohammed DeifMohammed DeifMohammed Deif Born in 1960, is a commander of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. He gained that position after Israel killed Salah Shehade in July, 2002. Israel suspects him of being a bombmaker and holds him personally responsible for the deaths of dozens of civilians...
, the leader of the al-Qassam Brigades, and Hamas's top bomb-maker and developer of the Qassam rocket after his mentor Yahya Ayyashwas killed in 1996 in a targeted killing, was killed along with Imad AbbasImad AbbasImad Abbas was a senior member of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, until his assassination by the Israeli Defense Forces on October 21, 2004, in Gaza City....
, a senior member of the Brigades, when an Israeli aircraft fired two missiles at his car in which he was riding north of Gaza City.
- In June 2006, Jamal Abu Samhadana, the founder of the Popular Resistance CommitteesPopular Resistance CommitteesThe Popular Resistance Committees are a coalition of various armed Palestinian factions that oppose the conciliatory approach adopted by the Palestinian Authority and Fatah towards Israel...
(PRC) (which have been held responsible for firing missiles into Israel), # 2 on IsraelIsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
's list of wanted terrorists, and recently appointed head of security of the Hamas government, was killed, along with at least three other PRC members, by four missiles fired by Israeli Apache helicopters, guided by Israeli reconnaissance drones, at a PRC camp in RafahRafahRafah , also known as Rafiah, is a Palestinian city in the southern Gaza Strip. Located south of Gaza, Rafah's population of 71,003 is overwhelmingly made up of Palestinian refugees. Rafah camp and Tall as-Sultan form separate localities. Rafah is the district capital of the Rafah Governorate...
. The Israeli military said the militants were planning a large-scale attack on Israel.
- In March 2008, Muhammad ShahadaMuhammad ShahadaMuhammad Shahada was a senior leader of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine, commanding the organization in the Bethlehem area of the West Bank....
, a senior leader of the Islamic Jihad Movement in PalestineIslamic Jihad Movement in PalestineThe Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine known in the West as simply Palestinian Islamic Jihad , is a small Palestinian militant organization. The group has been labelled as a terrorist group by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Australia and Israel...
, commanding the organization in the BethlehemBethlehemBethlehem is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank of the Jordan River, near Israel and approximately south of Jerusalem, with a population of about 30,000 people. It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate of the Palestinian National Authority and a hub of Palestinian culture and tourism...
area of the West BankWest BankThe West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
, was killed by IsraelIsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i commandos disguised as local residents who opened fire on his vehicle, killing four others including two Islamic Jihad militants and a senior leader of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
- In April 2008, Ibrahim Abu Alba, the head of the military wing of the Palestinian Democratic FrontDemocratic Front for the Liberation of PalestineThe Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine is a Palestinian Marxist-Leninist, secular political and military organization. It is also frequently referred to as the Democratic Front, or al-Jabha al-Dimuqratiyah...
in Northern Gaza, was killed in a drone attack near Beit HanounBeit HanounBeit Hanoun is a city on the north-east edge of the Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 32,187 in mid-year 2006. It is administered by the Palestinian Authority...
.
- Possible targeted killing: In January 2010, Mahmoud al-MabhouhMahmoud al-MabhouhMahmoud Abdel Rauf al-Mabhouh was a senior Hamas military commander and one of the founders of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military affiliate of Hamas...
, a senior Hamas commander and one of the founders of the al-Qassam Brigades, was killed by being electrocuted and/or drugged with succinylcholine, a quick-acting paralytic, and then suffocated in his room in a five-star Dubai hotel; the Dubai police said that the Israeli MossadMossadThe Mossad , short for HaMossad leModi'in uleTafkidim Meyuchadim , is the national intelligence agency of Israel....
was behind the killing.
Supreme Court decision
On December 14, 2006, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that targeted killingIsraeli targeted killings
In the course of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Israel Defense Forces use the term "focused foiling" against those it considers proven to have intentions of performing a specific act of violence in the very near future or to be linked indirectly with several acts of violence , thus raising...
is a legitimate form of self-defense against terrorists, and outlined several conditions for its use, in an opinion written by Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch
Dorit Beinisch
Dorit Beinisch is the president of the Supreme Court of Israel. She was appointed to the position on September 14, 2006, after the retirement of Aharon Barak. She is the first woman to serve as president of the Supreme Court.-Biography:...
.
The head of the IDF's international law department, Colonel Pnina Sharvit, said that "everything in the decision is compatible with our existing policy." A spokesman for Hamas criticized the decision, saying it "gives judicial cover for terrorist practices by the government."
Russia
In the summer of 2006, Russia's security services, including the Federal Security Service (FSB), were given the legal power to hunt down and kill terrorism suspects overseas if ordered to do so by Russia's president.Notable examples
- In April 1996, Dzhokhar Dudayev, the president of Chechen Republic of IchkeriaChechen Republic of IchkeriaThe Chechen Republic of Ichkeria is the unrecognized secessionist government of Chechnya. The republic was proclaimed in late 1991 by Dzokhar Dudayev, and fought two devastating wars between separatists and the Russian Federation which denounced secession...
and the leader of ChechenChechen peopleChechens constitute the largest native ethnic group originating in the North Caucasus region. They refer to themselves as Noxçi . Also known as Sadiks , Gargareans, Malkhs...
rebels in the First Chechen WarFirst Chechen WarThe First Chechen War, also known as the War in Chechnya, was a conflict between the Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, fought from December 1994 to August 1996...
, was killed in ChechnyaChechnyaThe Chechen Republic , commonly referred to as Chechnya , also spelled Chechnia or Chechenia, sometimes referred to as Ichkeria , is a federal subject of Russia . It is located in the southeastern part of Europe in the Northern Caucasus mountains. The capital of the republic is the city of Grozny...
by a guided missile while speaking on a satellite phoneSatellite phoneA satellite telephone, satellite phone, or satphone is a type of mobile phone that connects to orbiting satellites instead of terrestrial cell sites...
.
- In March 2002, Ibn Al-KhattabIbn al-KhattabSamir Saleh Abdullah Al-Suwailem , more commonly known as Emir Khattab meaning Commander Khattab, or Leader Khattab, and also known as Habib Abdul Rahman, was a Muslim guerilla fighter and financier working with Chechen Mujahideen in the First Chechen War...
, a Saudi guerrilla fighter, was killed in ChechnyaChechnyaThe Chechen Republic , commonly referred to as Chechnya , also spelled Chechnia or Chechenia, sometimes referred to as Ichkeria , is a federal subject of Russia . It is located in the southeastern part of Europe in the Northern Caucasus mountains. The capital of the republic is the city of Grozny...
during the Second Chechen WarSecond Chechen WarThe Second Chechen War, in a later phase better known as the War in the North Caucasus, was launched by the Russian Federation starting 26 August 1999, in response to the Invasion of Dagestan by the Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade ....
when a DagestanDagestanThe Republic of Dagestan is a federal subject of Russia, located in the North Caucasus region. Its capital and the largest city is Makhachkala, located at the center of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea...
i messenger hired by the Russian FSB gave Khattab a poisoned letter.
- In February 2004, Zelimkhan YandarbiyevZelimkhan YandarbiyevZelimkhan Abdumuslimovich Yandarbiyev was a Chechen writer and a politician, who served as acting president of the breakaway Chechen Republic of Ichkeria between 1996 and 1997...
, a Chechen who played a key role in directing funding from foundations in the Arab states of the Persian GulfArab states of the Persian Gulf"Arab states of the Persian Gulf" or "Arab Persian Gulf states" or "Persian Gulf Arab states" or "Arabic Persian Gulf states" or "Arab States of The Gulf", are terms that refer to the six Arab states of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman, bordering the Persian Gulf....
to support a radical Chechen faction dubbed the Special Purpose Islamic RegimentSpecial Purpose Islamic RegimentThe Special Purpose Islamic Regiment , also known as the al-Jihad-Fisi-Sabililah Special Islamic Regiment, was a Chechen criminal organization loosely formed by renegade Chechen warlord Arbi Barayev in 1996...
, the militant group responsible for the Moscow theater hostage crisisMoscow theater hostage crisisThe Moscow theater hostage crisis, also known as the 2002 Nord-Ost siege, was the seizure of the crowded Dubrovka Theater on 23 October 2002 by some 40 to 50 armed Chechens who claimed allegiance to the Islamist militant separatist movement in Chechnya. They took 850 hostages and demanded the...
, was killed in DohaDohaDoha is the capital city of the state of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf, it had a population of 998,651 in 2008, and is also one of the municipalities of Qatar...
, QatarQatarQatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...
, when a bomb ripped through his SUVSport utility vehicleA sport utility vehicle is a generic marketing term for a vehicle similar to a station wagon, but built on a light-truck chassis. It is usually equipped with four-wheel drive for on- or off-road ability, and with some pretension or ability to be used as an off-road vehicle. Not all four-wheel...
. Two Russians were arrested in a Russian Embassy villa and subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment. Passing their sentence, the judge stated that they had acted on orders from the Russian leadership.
- In July 2006, Chechen militant Islamist Shamil Salmanovich Basayev, responsible for the 2002 Moscow theater hostage crisis that led to 129 civilian deaths and the 2004 Beslan school hostage crisisBeslan school hostage crisisThe Beslan school hostage crisis of early September 2004 was a three-day hostage-taking of over 1,100 people which ended in the deaths of over 380...
that led to 385 deaths, was killed in the village of Ekazhevo, in IngushetiaIngushetiaThe Republic of Ingushetia is a federal subject of Russia , located in the North Caucasus region with its capital at Magas. In terms of area, the republic is the smallest of Russia's federal subjects except for the two federal cities, Moscow and Saint Petersburg...
. The FSB, following him with a drone, spotted his car approach a truck laden with explosives that the FSB had prepared, and by remote control triggered a detonatorDetonatorA detonator is a device used to trigger an explosive device. Detonators can be chemically, mechanically, or electrically initiated, the latter two being the most common....
that the FSB had hidden in the explosives. The Russian ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, said: "He is a notorious terrorist, and we have very clearly and publicly announced what is going to happen to notorious terrorists who commit heinous crimes of the type Mr. Basayev has been involved in."
Notable examples
- Colombian military forces conducted an air raid in EcuadorEcuadorEcuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
in March 2008, killing Revolutionary Armed Forces of ColombiaRevolutionary Armed Forces of ColombiaThe Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army is a Marxist–Leninist revolutionary guerrilla organization based in Colombia which is involved in the ongoing Colombian armed conflict, currently involved in drug dealing and crimes against the civilians..FARC-EP is a peasant army which...
(FARC) deputy Raúl ReyesRaúl ReyesLuis Edgar Devia Silva , better known by his nom de guerre Raúl Reyes, was a Secretariat member, spokesperson, and advisor to the Southern Bloc of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-EP...
, along with 16 other FARC guerrillas.
Rationale
The primary justification for targeted killings is self-defense. Other justifications include that: a) it may produce leadership vacuums, eliminate skilled operatives, and lead to disorganization in the terrorist organization; b) it may reduce the number and severity of terrorist attacks over the long term; c) it addresses those situations where it would be too difficult or dangerous to arrest the target; d) international law permits the use of lethal force against individuals and groups that pose an imminent threat to a country; e) it adheres to the international Law of Armed Conflict principles of proportionality and distinction; and f) it limits collateral damage.Self-defense
Targeted killing is justified by its proponents on the basis of national self-defense, with the nation defending its citizens from danger to their lives posed by acts of terrorism. Judge Abraham Sofaer, former federal judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York is a federal district court. Appeals from the Southern District of New York are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case...
, wrote: "It is essential not to allow loaded rhetoric to obscure the propriety of lawfully using deadly force in self-defense."
"Targeted killing absolutely is the implementation, the manifestation of aggressive, preemptive self-defense based on Article 51 of the United Nations Charter
United Nations Charter
The Charter of the United Nations is the foundational treaty of the international organization called the United Nations. It was signed at the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center in San Francisco, United States, on 26 June 1945, by 50 of the 51 original member countries...
", said Amos Guiora, Professor of law at the University of Utah. Similarly, Harold Koh, the U.S. State Department's legal adviser, said in March 2010 that the U.S.'s drone strikes against al-Qaeda and its allies were lawful under the general principle of self-defense.
Various proponents have supported targeted killings of those who lead, inspire, and provide religious sanction for terrorists, asserting that the fact that they may not have been physically involved in committing such crimes does not reduce their role or responsibility. They also stress that inasmuch as it is self-defense, it is not murder, and thus it is a killing—but not a crime.
Leadership vacuums and disorganization
Some argue that the killings may produce leadership vacuums, eliminate skilled operatives, and lead to disorganization in the terrorist organizations.
Reduces terrorist attacks
They argue that targeted killings have reduced the number and effectiveness of terrorist attacks over the long term. After Israel adopted a policy of targeted killings, deaths resulting from terrorist attacks by Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
plunged from a high of 75 in 2001, to 21 in 2005.
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
Professor Allan Dershowitz said: "Even during the most recent intifadah, Israel prevented thousands of acts of terrorism by target killings and arrests. I'm in favor of targeted killing of terrorists, if it can be done without collateral damage." Lieutenant General Dan Halutz
Dan Halutz
' is an Israeli Air Force Lt. General and former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces and commander of the Israeli Air Force. Halutz was appointed as Chief of Staff on June 1, 2005. On January 17, 2007 he announced his resignation. He has a degree in economics. He was born to a Mizrahi...
, then the Israeli Air Force commander, said "It is the most important, the most important, method of fighting terror.
George Jonas
George Jonas
George Jonas is a Hungarian-born Canadian writer and columnist. He is the author of 15 books. They include Vengeance , the story of an Israeli operation to kill the terrorists responsible for the 1972 Munich massacre...
wrote in Foreign Policy
Foreign Policy
Foreign Policy is a bimonthly American magazine founded in 1970 by Samuel P. Huntington and Warren Demian Manshel.Originally, the magazine was a quarterly...
:
In fighting terrorism, looking for a "solution" is the wrong test. The utility of counter-terrorism isn't decided on the basis of what it solves, or fails to solve. The police, the courts, and the jails are no "solution" to crime; schools, libraries, and universities are no "solution" to ignorance; yet no one concludes that the justice system or the education system has no utility. Shooting Osama bin Laden probably wouldn't eliminate terrorism, but it would eliminate Osama bin Laden. Certain battles need to be fought every day, not necessarily to make the world a better place, but to prevent it from becoming worse.
Kill vs. arrest
Proponents of targeted killing are often in favor of arresting the target rather than killing him, if possible. But typically targets are high-profile suspects, whose capture is deemed impossible, or too great a risk. Tufts University
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. It is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France...
Professor of international security studies William Martel
William C. Martel
William C. Martel is Associate Professor of International Security Studies at The Fletcher School, Tufts University.-Education:He has a B.A. from St. Anselm College, and a Ph.D. in Political Science from University of Massachusetts Amherst...
says: "It's a pretty dicey proposition capturing somebody. You can't do a snatch and grab casually."
International law, and the principles of "proportionality" and "distinction"
As a general rule, international law permits the use of lethal force against individuals and groups that pose an imminent threat to a country.
Most legal scholars consider targeted killing as legal under the international rules of war, because the terrorists are at war with the targeting state.. Ilan Berman
Ilan Berman
Ilan I. Berman is Vice President of the American Foreign Policy Council, a non-profit U.S. foreign policy think tank in Washington, DC. He focuses on regional security in the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Russian Federation...
, of the American Foreign Policy Council
American Foreign Policy Council
The American Foreign Policy Council is a conservative non-profit U.S. foreign policy think tank operating in Washington, D.C., since 1982...
, said that: "Under international law, the use of targeted killings, while unusual, is entirely defensible. To be sure, this is an unconventional sort of conflict, but it is nonetheless a military one, in which the laws of war are applicable." Similarly, Tamar Meisels
Tamar Meisels
Tamar Meisels is a Professor of Government and Policy in the Department of Political Science at Tel Aviv University, and a political theorist.-Biography:...
says, that because terrorists use military or paramilitary tactics, terrorism may be seen as a form of warfare, which implies a state of war (though not as clear-cut as a war between states). Therefore, she opines, those fighting terrorism are engaged in a war with terrorist organizations, and methods used to fight wars may be used to combat terrorism.
Others make a case that targeted killing adheres to the international law
International law
Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
Law of Armed Conflict principles of proportionality
Proportionality (law)
Proportionality is a principle in law which covers two distinct concepts. Within municipal law it is used to convey the idea that the punishment of an offender should fit the crime...
and distinction
Distinction (law)
Distinction is a principle under international humanitarian law governing the legal use of force in an armed conflict, whereby belligerents must distinguish between combatants and civilians...
, which are intended to limit collateral damage.
- "Proportionality" is the principle stating that the "destruction of civilian property must be proportional to the military advantage gained." Targeted killing uses the minimum level of force needed to carry out legitimate self-defense. Judge Sofaer similarly wrote that while targeted killing may result in collateral damage, and it is impossible to guarantee that targeted killings will be soundly planned and implemented, such damage "must be avoided to the extent possible consistent with the military objective, and it must not be unreasonable in the circumstances".
- "Distinction" requires combatants to distinguish between combatants and non-combatants. When targeted killing works perfectly, the only ones killed are the perpetrators or backers of terrorism. When faced with alternatives of military invasion, carpet bombingCarpet bombingCarpet bombing is a large aerial bombing done in a progressive manner to inflict damage in every part of a selected area of land. The phrase invokes the image of explosions completely covering an area, in the same way that a carpet covers a floor. Carpet bombing is usually achieved by dropping many...
, military sweeps, or artillery barrageBarrage (artillery)A barrage is a line or barrier of exploding artillery shells, created by the co-ordinated aiming of a large number of guns firing continuously. Its purpose is to deny or hamper enemy passage through the line of the barrage, to attack a linear position such as a line of trenches or to neutralize...
, targeted killing—while regrettable—is deemed preferable.
George Jonas, taking note of "the astronomical casualty figures of 20th-century conflicts", writes that they:
aren't sustainable in the 21st, morally or politically. Body counts such as 40 million in World War II, 1 million in Vietnam–even 50,000 in the Six Day War–are no longer acceptable. Our improved ability to isolate key enemies enables us to wage war with far fewer casualties. For the first time in history, we can fight regimes instead of people.... In the era of "smart bombs", the United States no longer has to contemplate 4 million dead and wounded as it did in Korea during the 1950s (2 million military, plus about 2 million civilian casualties..., not counting about 390,000 Chinese and 37,500 U.S. soldiers). Today, there is a good chance of eliminating mad tyrants like Kim Jong Il and his inner circle ... with a few GPS-guided bunker busterBunker busterA bunker buster is a bomb designed to penetrate hardened targets or targets buried deep underground.-Germany:Röchling shells were bunker-busting artillery shells, developed by German engineer August Cönders, based on the theory of increasing sectional density to improve penetration.They were tested...
s.
Limit collateral damage
Israel says that while it makes significant efforts to avoid or limit civilian casualties, they are inevitable, because terrorists hide in civilian areas. As Israel's targeted killing campaign developed, Hamas's senior bomb-makers, strategists, and developers of the Qassam rocket
Qassam rocket
The Qassam rocket is a simple steel artillery rocket developed and deployed by the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of Hamas. Three models have been produced and used between 2001 and 2011....
began to surround themselves with children. Max Boot
Max Boot
Max Boot is an American author, consultant, editorialist, lecturer, and military historian. He has been a prominent advocate for American power. He once described his ideas as "American might to promote American ideals." He self-identifies as a conservative, once joking that "I grew up in the...
, the Olin senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations
Council on Foreign Relations
The Council on Foreign Relations is an American nonprofit nonpartisan membership organization, publisher, and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international affairs...
, pointed out that "terrorists often hide among civilians precisely because they know that—unlike them—Americans or Israelis shrink from slaughtering innocents, even inadvertently.
Israeli Major General Amos Yadlin
Amos Yadlin
Aluf Amos Yadlin is a former general in the Israeli Air Force and was the head of the Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate, known as Aman. Before being promoted to head of Aman, Yadlin was the Israel Defense Forces military attaché to Washington, D.C.. Previously in his career he headed...
, chief of military intelligence, said: "We face a tragic dilemma. A terrorist is going to enter a restaurant and blow up 20 people. But if we blow up his car, three innocent people in the car will die. How do we explain it to ourselves?" Upon waking up "horrified" after a targeted killing in 2002 killed 15 Palestinian civilians, Yadlin called Asa Kasher
Asa Kasher
Asa Kasher is an Israeli philosopher and linguist working at Tel Aviv University, Israel.-Biography:He is noted for authorship of Israel Defense Forces's Code of Conduct...
, a philosophy professor, and began working on ethical guidelines for fighting terrorism. They also asked a mathematician to write a formula to determine an acceptable number of civilian casualties per dead terrorist; he was not successful.
Through 2006, Israel had called off more than half of all targeted operations, because of danger to non-combatants. Israeli Major General Eliezer Shkedy said collateral damage decreased from 1 civilian death per targeted killing in 2002, to 1 civilian death for every 25 terrorists killed in 2005. This was in part due to technology, as Yaalon, military chief of staff from 2002 to 2005, asked that smaller warheads be manufactured.
Sderot
Sderot is a western Negev city in the Southern District of Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , at the end of 2009 the city had a total population of 20,700. The city has been an ongoing target of Qassam rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip...
are no less important to me, if not more important", he said, referring to the town most often targeted by Qassam rockets. While expressing sorrow for civilian casualties, he also said he was concerned that some blur the moral distinction between the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) killing terrorists, with some regrettable collateral damage that the IDF tries carefully to avoid, and Arab terrorists deliberately killing civilians. "I don't believe that the IDF targets civilians", said Marc Garlasco, a senior military analyst at Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
.
As an example of how the Israelis struggle with the dilemma, on September 6, 2003, Israel had the chance to destroy the Hamas leadership at a secret meeting on one floor of a three-story home. Its security officials clashed strongly over launching the attack. Avi Dichter
Avi Dichter
Avi Dichter is an Israeli politician who currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Kadima. He is a former Minister of Internal Security and Shin Bet director.-Biography:...
, then head of Shin Bet, Israel's internal security agency, wanted to attack. "They're the terrorist dream team", he argued. But noting that there was risk to civilians on other floors, Yaalon struggled balancing the Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
ic precept: "If he comes to kill you, kill him first", with the Biblical commandment, "Thou shall not kill." At the end of the day, the prime minister only authorized an attack that would destroy one floor of the home where the terrorists were meeting, to lower the possibility of civilian casualties. The floor that was attacked turned out not to be the one where the Hamas leadership was meeting, and it survived unscathed. Yaalon said with a sigh: "There are no good answers. When I sign the orders, my hand trembles."
The Israeli Supreme Court held in 2006 that:
[E]very effort must be made to minimize harm to innocent civilians. Harm to innocent civilians caused during military attacks (collateral damage) must be proportional. That is, attacks should be carried out only if the expected harm to innocent civilians is not disproportional to the military advantage to be achieved by the attack. For example, shooting at a terrorist sniper shooting at soldiers or civilians from his porch is permitted, even if an innocent passerby might be harmed. Such harm conforms to the principle of proportionality. However, that is not the case if the building is bombed from the air and scores of its residents and passersby are harmed. Between these two extremes are the hard cases.
The CIA often uses specially designed missiles which have a small blast field and minimal shrapnel in order to limit collateral damage.
Rationale
Criticism of targeted killings focuses on a number of aspects. One criticism asserts that it is incompatible with international law, which prohibits extrajudicial killings that lack due process. Another is the assertion that it is destabilizing to local situations, and thus causes more violence. Criticism often also focuses on the killing of innocent bystander victims. When targeted killings are launched without the consent of the "host" country, the issue of sovereignty is raised. Human rights and humanitarian law issues are also raised, and some have criticized the process because of its secretive nature. Finally, Germany has asked that its NATO troops not engage in targeted killings, as it is not certain that such actions are permissible under the German constitution.International law
One criticism asserts that targeted killing is incompatible with international law
International law
Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
, which prohibits extrajudicial killings that lack due process
Due process
Due process is the legal code that the state must venerate all of the legal rights that are owed to a person under the principle. Due process balances the power of the state law of the land and thus protects individual persons from it...
. The position of Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
, the human rights organization, has been understood to mean that such due process must be afforded even in an armed conflict. Also, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan
Kofi Annan
Kofi Atta Annan is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the UN from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2006...
and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw
Jack Straw
Jack Straw , British politician.Jack Straw may also refer to:* Jack Straw , English* "Jack Straw" , 1971 song by the Grateful Dead* Jack Straw by W...
said Israel's targeted killing of Yassin violated international law.
Some human rights organizations, for example, presuming (which may not always be the case) that the terrorist is within the jurisdiction of the acting state, maintain that terrorist should be arrested, put on trial, and found guilty before any punishment is meted out. Human Rights Watch, while stating that the Palestinian terrorists had violated the Geneva Convention admonition that "civilian population as such, as well as individual civilians, shall not be the object of attack" had committed "war crimes" and "crimes against humanity", at the same time condemned Israel's "extra-judicial killings."
In May 2005, Amnesty called upon the U.S. "to end immediately all operations aimed at killing suspects instead of arresting them, investigate all past suspected cases of extrajudicial executions, and revoke all orders that may allow extrajudicial executions", and opined that "hypocrisy, secrecy, an overarching war mentality and a disregard for international human rights law continues to mark the USA's conduct in the "war on terror". In January 2006, Amnesty referred to Israel's targeted killings as "extrajudicial executions/assassinations". In July 2006, Amnesty said it was "deeply concerned" that the U.S. appeared to be carrying out "extrajudicial executions in clear violation of its obligations under international human rights law, including Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is a multilateral treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 16, 1966, and in force from March 23, 1976...
. These are cases in which the USA has apparently deliberately killed or attempted to kill suspects in lieu of arrest including in countries where there is no ongoing armed conflict." In December 2006, Amnesty called targeted killings "extrajudicial executions", and asserted that they were being used as a "substitute for arrest and prosecution".
Philip Alston
Philip Alston
Philip G. Alston is an international law scholar and human rights practitioner. He is John Norton Pomeroy Professor of Law at New York University School of Law, and co-Chair of the law school's Center for Human Rights and Global Justice...
, the United Nations special representative on extrajudicial executions, said
in a June 2010 report to the UN Human Rights Council
United Nations Human Rights Council
The United Nations Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations System. The UNHRC is the successor to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights , and is a subsidiary body of the United Nations General Assembly...
that a targeted killing outside of an armed conflict "is almost never likely to be legal", and rejected "pre-emptive self-defense" as a justification for killing terrorism suspects far from combat zones.
George Jonas
George Jonas
George Jonas is a Hungarian-born Canadian writer and columnist. He is the author of 15 books. They include Vengeance , the story of an Israeli operation to kill the terrorists responsible for the 1972 Munich massacre...
notes a curious corollary to the surgical nature of such killings: "Governments can bomb faceless troops of enemy conscripts with impunity, but are questioned closely about bombing photographable individuals. Numbers numb; identity humanizes. That's the general rule."
Human rights
Amnesty International has lodged complaints with the U.S. administration following targeted killing Predator strikes. The American Civil Liberties Union
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
(ACLU), in an April 2010 letter to President Obama, said that international humanitarian law prohibits targeted killing, except in order to prevent an individual's future participation in
hostilities.
Collateral damage
Criticism often also focuses on the killing of innocent victims in heavy-handed failed targeted killings, or those based on faulty intelligence, in which civilians may be killed. An example given is Israel's July 2002 targeted killing of Salah Shehade, in which 14 others, including 9 children, were killed due to faulty intelligence that civilians would not be in the house. Some international human rights groups called for criminal charges against Israeli officers.
Another example given is the January 2006 CIA Predator attack in the northern Pakistani village of Damadola
Damadola
Damadola is a village in the Bajaur Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas in Pakistan, about from the Afghanistan border, it is located at 34° 48' 20N 71° 28' 0E at an altitude of 1082 metres . The village gained international attention in early 2006 after the U.S. launched an...
, where U.S. intelligence believed al-Qaeda's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri
Ayman al-Zawahiri
Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri is an Egyptian physician, Islamic theologian and current leader of al-Qaeda. He was previously the second and last "emir" of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, having succeeded Abbud al-Zumar in the latter role when Egyptian authorities sentenced al-Zumar to life...
, was meeting with a group of extremists. At least four al-Qaeda members were killed in the attack, but Zawahiri was not present, and 18 civilians—including five children—were reportedly killed, setting off angry demonstrations across Pakistan against the U.S. Senator John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
(R-AZ) said: "It's terrible when innocent people are killed; we regret that. But we have to do what we think is necessary to take out al-Qaeda, particularly the top operatives."
In June 2006, Kofi Annan said he "deeply deplores" the killing of three children in Gaza in "an attempted Israeli targeted killing of alleged militants", and called on Israel "to respect international law and to ensure that its actions are proportionate and do not put civilians at grave risk."
Sovereignty
While targeted killings are sometimes launched with the consent of the "host" country, sometimes that is not the case, raising the issue of sovereignty.
Increase in extremism
Some have also said that targeted killing should be curtailed, because it can be unpopular in the host country, such as Pakistan, and can coalesce the local population around the extremists.
Destabilizing, and causes violence
Another criticism is the assertion that it is destabilizing to local situations, and thus causes more violence, an opinion held by intermediary Álvaro de Soto
Álvaro de Soto
Álvaro de Soto is a Peruvian diplomat. He ended a 25 year career with the United Nations in May 2007.-Early years:De Soto studied law and international relations in Lima and Geneva prior to enlisting in his country's diplomatic corps...
, former UN Middle East peace envoy, and by Jeffrey Addicott, who served as the senior legal adviser to the U.S. Army Special Operations Forces, the Green Berets
Green Berets
A green beret was the headgear of the British Commandos of World War II. Certain military organisations still wear green berets because they have regimental or unit histories that form a connection with the British Commandos of World War II....
. Under this view, it can lead to retaliatory violence, create martyrs, cause embitterment, and complicate peace negotiations.
Non-transparent
Political philosopher Michael Walzer
Michael Walzer
Michael Walzer is a prominent American political philosopher and public intellectual. A professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, he is co-editor of Dissent, an intellectual magazine that he has been affiliated with since his years as an undergraduate at...
, professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study
Institute for Advanced Study
The Institute for Advanced Study, located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States, is an independent postgraduate center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It was founded in 1930 by Abraham Flexner...
and editor of the intellectual quarterly Dissent
Dissent (magazine)
Dissent is a quarterly magazine focusing on politics and culture edited by Michael Walzer and Michael Kazin. The magazine is published for the Foundation for the Study of Independent Social Ideas, Inc by the University of Pennsylvania Press....
, said that in the interest of transparency, when a government kills people, it should make clear whom it is trying to kill, why it is trying to kill them, and whom it has killed so that people can hold the government accountable and make sure that it's not abusing power. The ACLU as well, in its April 2010 letter to President Obama, chided him for keeping the targeted killing process secret.
To counter the lack of transparency, in January 2010, the ACLU filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request asking that the U.S. government disclose the legal basis for its use of predator drones to conduct targeted killings. The ACLU is seeking to find out when, where, and against whom drone strikes can be authorized, and how the U.S. ensures compliance with international laws relating to extrajudicial killings. The ACLU then filed suit in March 2010, asking for information on when, where, and against whom drone strikes can be authorized, the number and rate of civilian casualties, and other such information.
Loss of intelligence
Intelligence that could be gathered by capturing and questioning the targets is lost when they are instead killed.
Increases use of military force, and can lead to chaos
Alston said that U.S. drone targeted killings outside the war zones of Afghanistan and Iraq undermine global constraints on use of military force, in part by allowing drone operators who are not on a battlefield to engage in targeted killings, and will lead to a chaos as drone technology spreads.
Germany
In a 2008 interview by Der SpiegelDer Spiegel
Der Spiegel is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. It is one of Europe's largest publications of its kind, with a weekly circulation of more than one million.-Overview:...
, the Commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force
International Security Assistance Force
The International Security Assistance Force is a NATO-led security mission in Afghanistan established by the United Nations Security Council on 20 December 2001 by Resolution 1386 as envisaged by the Bonn Agreement...
, General David McKiernan, was asked whether Germany is a particularly difficult ally because its government requested limitations on its soldiers' deployment in Afghanistan, feeling that it might violate Germany's constitution if they were to conduct a targeted killing, in the absence of a direct attack. McKiernan responded:
If ... the decision has been a legal and political decision back in Germany ... I accept that. But as a soldier, I don't understand it. I don't understand ever putting your men and women in harm's way, without their having the full ability to protect themselves. That also means operating on actionable intelligence to defeat insurgents, and protect your forces. That's how you keep your soldiers alive.
In July 2009, Germany's Interior Minister
Federal Ministry of the Interior (Germany)
The Federal Ministry of the Interior is a ministry of the German federal government. Its main office is in Berlin, with a secondary seat in Bonn. The current minister of the interior is Dr...
Wolfgang Schäuble
Wolfgang Schäuble
Wolfgang Schäuble is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union , currently serving as the Federal Minister of Finance in the Second Cabinet Merkel....
said in an interview that Berlin would have to "clarify whether our constitutional state is sufficient for confronting new threats." He said that the legal problems his office had to struggle with "extend all the way to extreme cases such as so-called targeted killing … Imagine someone knew what cave Osama bin Laden is sitting in. A remote-controlled missile could then be fired in order to kill him." The interviewer said: "Germany's federal government would probably send a public prosecutor there first, to arrest bin Laden." Schäuble responded: "And the Americans would execute him with a missile, and most people would say: 'thank God'."
That sparked a series of reactions. German President
President of Germany
The President of the Federal Republic of Germany is the country's head of state. His official title in German is Bundespräsident . Germany has a parliamentary system of government and so the position of President is largely ceremonial...
Horst Köhler
Horst Köhler
Horst Köhler is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union. He was President of Germany from 2004 to 2010. As the candidate of the two Christian Democratic sister parties, the CDU and the CSU, and the liberal FDP, Köhler was elected to his first five-year term by the Federal Assembly on...
said he doubted whether "the killing of a suspected terrorist without a trial can be done quite so easily." Peter Struck
Peter Struck
Peter Struck was the German Minister of Defence under chancellor Gerhard Schröder from 22 October 2002 until 2005. A lawyer, Struck is a member of the Social Democratic Party.-Education:* 1962: Abitur...
, the parliamentary head of Germany's center-left Social Democrats (SPD), said: "It won't do for basic values of our constitution to be called into question. Human rights and the right to life are untouchable. This also goes for Osama bin Laden's life."
In December 2009, Der Spiegel questioned whether Germany had begun targeted killings of Taliban leaders in Afghanistan, based on a September 2009 U.S. air strike called in by a German colonel on two tanker trucks that had been hijacked by Taliban insurgents. The colonel said he had been afraid that the tankers could be turned into "rolling bombs", and used to attack a German base a few kilometers away.
Lawsuits in Spain, the U.K., and the U.S.
SpainIn Spain, complaints were lodged against former IDF chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. (res.) Dan Halutz
Dan Halutz
' is an Israeli Air Force Lt. General and former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces and commander of the Israeli Air Force. Halutz was appointed as Chief of Staff on June 1, 2005. On January 17, 2007 he announced his resignation. He has a degree in economics. He was born to a Mizrahi...
and other six other senior Israeli political and military officials by pro-Palestinian organizations, who sought to prosecute them in Spain under the principle of universal jurisdiction
Universal jurisdiction
Universal jurisdiction or universality principle is a principle in public international law whereby states claim criminal jurisdiction over persons whose alleged crimes were committed outside the boundaries of the prosecuting state, regardless of nationality, country of residence, or any other...
. A lower court decision ordered an inquiry into the Shehadeh killing in 2002. The Spanish Court of Appeals rejected the lower court's decision, and on appeal in April 2010 the Supreme Court of Spain upheld the Court of Appeals decision against conducting an official inquiry into the IDF's targeted killing of Shehadeh.
The U.K.
In the United Kingdom, similar complaints was brought against Halutz and other senior Israeli officials under the principle of universal jurisdiction, pertaining to involvement in approving targeted killings. The complaints were brought by Palestinian organizations such as the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, and the Israeli Yesh Gvul
Yesh Gvul
Yesh Gvul is a movement founded in 1982, by combat veterans, at the outbreak of the Lebanon War, who refused to serve in Lebanon and has expanded its opposition to the war in Lebanon to the negation of service in the occupied territories, reflected in the current Yesh Gvul...
movement.
The U.S.
In Matar v. Dichter, the Center for Constitutional Rights
Center for Constitutional Rights
Al Odah v. United States:Al Odah is the latest in a series of habeas corpus petitions on behalf of people imprisoned at the Guantanamo Bay detention center. The case challenges the Military Commissions system’s suitability as a habeas corpus substitute and the legality, in general, of detention at...
filed a federal class action
Class action
In law, a class action, a class suit, or a representative action is a form of lawsuit in which a large group of people collectively bring a claim to court and/or in which a class of defendants is being sued...
lawsuit against Dichter in the U.S. on behalf of the Palestinians killed or injured in a 2002 targeted killing air strike in Gaza. It charged Dichter with extrajudicial killing, war crime
War crime
War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...
s, and other gross human rights violations. On April 16, 2009, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the dismissal of the case, on the basis that Dichter possesses immunity under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act
Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act
The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 is a United States law, codified at Title 28, §§ 1330, 1332, 1391, 1441, and 1602-1611 of the United States Code, that establishes the limitations as to whether a foreign sovereign nation may be sued in U.S. courts—federal or state...
.
In Al-Aulaqi v. Obama, the American Civil Liberties Union
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
(ACLU) and the Center for Constitutional Rights
Center for Constitutional Rights
Al Odah v. United States:Al Odah is the latest in a series of habeas corpus petitions on behalf of people imprisoned at the Guantanamo Bay detention center. The case challenges the Military Commissions system’s suitability as a habeas corpus substitute and the legality, in general, of detention at...
(CCR) sued U.S. President Barack Obama, the U.S. Defense Department, and the CIA in U.S. federal court on behalf of Nasser al-Aulaqi (Anwar al-Awlaki
Anwar al-Awlaki
Anwar al-Awlaki was an American and Yemeni imam who was an engineer and educator by training. According to U.S. government officials, he was a senior talent recruiter and motivator who was involved with planning operations for the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda...
's father) on August 30, 2010. The plaintiffs are seeking a court order declaring that the U.S. Constitution and international law bar the government from killing U.S. citizens without due process "except as a last resort to protect against concrete, specific, and imminent threats of death or serious injury." The suit alleges that the targeted killing program violates al-Awlaki’s Fourth Amendment
Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the Bill of Rights which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures, along with requiring any warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause...
right to be free from unreasonable seizure, and his Fifth Amendment
Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, protects against abuse of government authority in a legal procedure. Its guarantees stem from English common law which traces back to the Magna Carta in 1215...
right not to be deprived of life without due process. They are also seeking an injunction blocking the U.S. government from killing Anwar al-Awlaki, and disclosure of the U.S.'s targeted killing list process and standards. A Justice Department spokesman said:
The U.S. is careful to ensure that all its operations used to prosecute the armed conflict against those forces, including lethal operations, comply with all applicable laws, including the laws of war. This administration is using every legal measure available to defeat al-Qaeda, and we will continue to do so as long as its forces pose a threat to this nation.On September 24, the U.S. government asked that the lawsuit be dismissed because, among other reasons: a) litigating the matter could require it to reveal military and state secrets (classified information related to national security, such as CIA and military operations, and Yemen's counterterrorism efforts); b) the father had no legal standing; and c) targeting decisions are for the executive branch to determine.
In oral argument on November 8, 2010, the parties debated the government's argument that the case should be dismissed because Awlaki's father does not have standing to bring the suit, because the policy is a matter for the President and not for the courts to decide; and because the case threatens to reveal "state secrets". The government said that if al-Awlaki wanted to bring the instant lawsuit, he could turn himself in to the U.S. and litigate the matter himself. The ACLU's counsel said the suit was just seeking to set general limits, that the government’s position was to exclude judicial oversight from the process completely, and that the risk that al-Awlaki might face indefinite detention without charge was enough to keep him from surrendering to the U.S. and litigating the case himself. The case is in front of federal District Judge John D. Bates
John D. Bates
John Deacon Bates , is a United States federal judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. He was appointed by President George W. Bush in December 2001, and has adjudicated in several cases directly affecting the office of the President.-Personal:Bates was born in Elizabeth,...
, who has previously disagreed with the Justice Department's assertions of executive power in a number of detention cases. Bates said he would not make a decision for several weeks on whether to dismiss the case.
On November 15, 2010, Karima Bennoune, a member of the board of trustees of CCR as well as an international law professor and human right lawyer of Muslim heritage criticized CCR's decision to represent pro bono the interests of al-Awlaki in the lawsuit. While referring to the U.S. policy as one of extrajudicial killings in violation of international law and targeted assassinations, and saying she opposed it, she noted that al-Awlaki himself is calling for assassinations as he is at large. Of the belief that it is wrong to defend the principle that assassinations are wrong "by standing silently next to an advocate of assassinations", she urged CCR to find other ways to challenge the policy without associating with al-Awlaki. The director of the Centre for the Study of Human Rights at the London School of Economics and Political Science, who was approached by the CCR for advice on al-Awlaki, said:
I have considerable respect for CCR. But in this case they have made a serious error of ethical judgment. Does a highly respected organisation, founded in the midst of historic struggles for civil rights and racial justice, now wish to be perceived by some as al-Qaida's legal team? Can you fight extra-judicial assassinations by standing alongside someone who advocates extra-judicial assassinations?Also, five Algerian non-governmental organizations sent CCR a strongly worded letter of dismay regarding their representation of al-Awlaki's interests.
On December 8, 2010, U.S. District Judge John D. Bates
John D. Bates
John Deacon Bates , is a United States federal judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. He was appointed by President George W. Bush in December 2001, and has adjudicated in several cases directly affecting the office of the President.-Personal:Bates was born in Elizabeth,...
dismissed the lawsuit in an 83-page ruling, holding among other things that the father did not have legal standing to bring the lawsuit.
Targeted killing vs. assassination
According to TimesTimes
The Times is a UK daily newspaper, the original English language newspaper titled "Times". Times may also refer to:In newspapers:*The Times , went defunct in 2005*The Times *The Times of Northwest Indiana...
columnist Ben Macintyre
Ben Macintyre
Ben Macintyre is a British author, historian, and columnist writing for The Times newspaper. His columns range from current affairs to historical controversies.- Author :...
, it is a euphemism
Euphemism
A euphemism is the substitution of a mild, inoffensive, relatively uncontroversial phrase for another more frank expression that might offend or otherwise suggest something unpleasant to the audience...
for assassination
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
, Gabriella Blum and Philip Heymann defined targeted killing in "Law and Policy of Targeted Killing" as: "the deliberate assassination of a known terrorist outside the country’s territory (even in a friendly nation’s territory), usually (but not exclusively) by an airstrike", and Ibrahim Nafie, writing in Egypt's Al-Ahram Weekly
Al-Ahram Weekly
Al-Ahram Weekly is an Egyptian English-language weekly broadsheet printed by the Al-Ahram Publishing House in Cairo, Egypt.It was established in 1991 by the Al-Ahram newspaper, which also runs a French-language weekly version, Al-Ahram Hebdo....
in 2001, criticized the U.S. for agreeing with "the Israeli spin that calls ... its official policy of assassinating Palestinian leaders 'targeted killing.'"
On the other hand, Professor Solis writes: "Assassination
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
s and targeted killings are very different acts". The use of the term assassination is opposed, as it denotes murder, whereas the terrorists are targeted in self-defense, and thus it is viewed as a killing, but not a crime.
Former Legal Advisor to the State Department Judge Sofaer wrote on the subject:
When people call a targeted killing an "assassination", they are attempting to preclude debate on the merits of the action. Assassination is widely defined as murder, and is for that reason prohibited in the United States.... U.S. officials may not kill people merely because their policies are seen as detrimental to our interests.... But killings in self-defense are no more "assassinations" in international affairs than they are murders when undertaken by our police forces against domestic killers. Targeted killings in self-defense have been authoritatively determined by the federal government to fall outside the assassination prohibition.
Richard James Kerr
Richard James Kerr
Richard James Kerr was deputy director of the C.I.A. from 1991-1992.He was born on Fort Smith, Arkansas. Kerr had a 32 year career with the CIA which included involvement in the retaliatory bombing raids against Libya in 1986 and culminated with key roles in managing U.S...
, former Deputy Director of the CIA, said that he thinks the difference between targeted killing and assassination is important, and that part of the problem, is the very word assassination, which means "political, ideological" killings, rather than combat situations, which is the case with targeted killings.
Roger Cressey
Roger Cressey
Roger W. Cressey is a former member of the United States National Security Council staff, where he held the position of Director for Transnational Threats from November 1999 through November 2001. He was until recently the president of the Good Harbor consulting group, and an adjunct Professor of ...
, a former counterterrorism official in the Bush and Clinton White Houses, now a senior fellow at the Center for Law and Security at NYU, said that he doesn't like the use of the term assassination to describe targeted killings, because he thinks it can be misleading. He said:
I think you should not have political assassination as a tool, and it's banned under Executive Order 12333. The issue is ... if the United States government makes a decision to go to war, to attack a transnational group, one objective of that decision is to eliminate the leadership. ... We're either going to do it through traditional military means ... or we're going to do it through covert activity. I mean, we're trying to actively hunt down and kill Osama bin Laden. We're not trying to assassinate him. We're trying to kill the senior leadership of al-Qaeda ... right now. That is not assassination, in the way that we have discussed assassination in the past ... because we are at war with this entity known as al-Qaeda ... under the U.N. charter, under Article 51 of self-defense, we can attack another nation in the spirit of self-defense, and under international law that is justified as well. So the difference between launching ... trying to kill bin Laden with a Predator Hellfire missile, in the context of war, that is completely different than a political assassination....
In The Impact of 9/11 and the New Legal Landscape: The Day That Changed Everything?, the point is made that "There is a major difference between assassination and targeted killing.... targeted killing [is] not synonymous with assassination. Assassination ... constitutes an illegal killing." Similarly, Professor Guiora writes: "Targeted killing is ... not an assassination", Professor David writes: "there are strong reasons to believe that the Israeli policy of targeted killing is not the same as assassination", Professor William C. Banks and Professor Peter Raven-Hansen write: "Targeted killing of terrorists is ... not unlawful and would not constitute assassination", Rory Miller writes: "Targeted killing ... is not 'assassination'", and Associate Professor Eric Patterson and Teresa Casale write: "Perhaps most important is the legal distinction between targeted killing and assassination".
Under U.S. law
Professor Solis wrote that while there is no official U.S. policy directive regarding targeted killing, the U.S. addressed assassination in Executive Order 12333Executive Order 12333
On December 4, 1981 President Ronald Reagan signedExecutive Order 12333,an Executive Order intended toextend powers and responsibilities of US intelligence agencies and direct the leaders of U.S...
, which does not completely prohibit it, but requires presidential approval. That Executive Order, which does not define "assassination", was signed December 4, 1981, by President Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
, and remains in effect. It is similar to its counterparts under Presidents Ford
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
and Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
(Executive Orders 11905
Executive Order 11905
Executive Order 11905 is a United States Presidential Executive Order signed on February 18, 1976, by President Gerald R. Ford as an attempt to reform the United States Intelligence Community, improve oversight on foreign intelligence activities, and ban political assassination...
and 12306
Executive Order 12036
Executive Order 12036 is a United States Presidential Executive Order signed on January 24, 1978, by President Jimmy Carter that imposed restrictions on and reformed the U.S. Intelligence Community along with further banning indirect U.S. involvement in assassinations. The EO was designed to...
). It has been construed as relating to political assassination, as distinct from the target killing of military enemies of the U.S. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer
Ari Fleischer
On May 19, 2003, he announced that he would resign during the summer, citing a desire to spend more time with his wife and to work in the private sector...
said, furthermore, that 12333 "does not inhibit the nation's ability to act in self-defense."
In the U.S., the killing of an al-Qaeda member is an act of war, not assassination. Professor Banks explained that the ban on assassination, in effect since President Ford's executive order of 1976, would apply only to "politically inspired killings of people who are not combatants."
A December 1989 Memorandum of Law (an advisory opinion), issued by the then-Special Assistant for Law of War Matters to The Judge Advocate General of the Army, W. Hays Park, made a distinction between the prohibition on illegal assassinations in Executive Order 12333, and the lawful targeting of those posing a direct threat to the U.S. Parks defined assassination as covert acts of murder for political reasons. Then Legal Advisor to the State Department Arbaham Sofaer, stressed that prohibition “should not be limited to the planned killing only of political officials, but that it should apply to the illegal killing of any person, even an ordinary citizen, so long as the act has a political purpose.” Both legal officials said the prohibition of assassination allowed targeted killing of enemy combatants in wartime or the killing in self-defense of specific individuals who pose a direct threat to U.S. citizens or national security in peacetime.
Drawing on two classified legal memoranda, one written for President Clinton in 1998 and one after 9/11, the Bush administration concluded that executive orders banning assassination do not prevent the president from lawfully targeting a terrorist for death by covert action. In 2001, Bush signed a more encompassing intelligence "finding" calling for attacks on newly identified weaknesses in Osama bin Laden's communications, security apparatus, and infrastructure, and granting the CIA and Defense Department expanded powers to engage in targeted killings. Bush's directive broadened the class of potential targets beyond bin Laden and his immediate circle of operational planners, and beyond Afghanistan. Bush was plain about his intention for the U.S. to find and kill bin Laden.
The Bush administration's update of that analysis was strengthened by the Joint Resolution of Congress of September 14, 2001
Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists
The Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists , one of two resolutions commonly known as "AUMF" , was a joint resolution passed by the United States Congress on September 14, 2001, authorizing the use of United States Armed Forces against those responsible for the attacks on...
, which gave the president authority to use "all necessary and appropriate force" against "persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001 [and] in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States." Assistant Secretary of Defense Lawrence Korb
Lawrence Korb
Lawrence J. Korb , is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and a Senior Adviser to the Center for Defense Information...
said that: "the congressional authorization of force gave [the president] the power to [authorize targeted killings]."
After the U.S.'s 2002 targeted killing of al-Harethi and five other suspected al-Qaeda members in the Yemeni desert, a U.S. administration official said the attack was considered a targeted killing, and not an assassination. Similarly, Harold Koh, the U.S. State Department's legal adviser, said in March 2010 that the U.S.'s drone strikes against al-Qaeda and its allies were lawful targeted killing, as part of the military action authorized by Congress, and not assassination, which is banned by executive order.
On the horizon
Predators, with high-precision zoom lens cameras, and video cameras with both electric optic and infraredInfrared
Infrared light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength longer than that of visible light, measured from the nominal edge of visible red light at 0.74 micrometres , and extending conventionally to 300 µm...
capability that can see at night, can lock on a target for their two Hellfire missiles when they are so far away that the target can neither see them (unless the drone is below 15000 feet (4,572 m)) nor hear them. Predators are 27 feet (8.2 m) long, have a wingspan of 48.7 feet (14.8 m), and are 6.9 feet (2.1 m) high, and can fly at speeds up to 135 mi/h and at heights up to 25000 feet (7,620 m). They can fly 400 nautical miles (740.8 km) to a target, loiter overhead for 14 hours, and then return to their base. Reapers have a wingspan of 66 feet (20.1 m), and are 12.5 feet (3.8 m) high. They can fly at speeds up to 300 mi/h, and at heights up to 50000 feet (15,240 m), and can fly for 14–28 hours (14 hours fully loaded).
"Nano-drones" are now being developed for targeted killing, that are about 2.5 inches (6.4 cm) long, which like little killer bees will be able to follow their target, even entering a room through an open window. Aerial refueling tanker drones are also being developed that will allow these drones to refuel, without ever landing.
See also
- AssassinationAssassinationTo carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
- CIA transnational anti-terrorism activitiesCIA transnational anti-terrorism activitiesThis article deals with activities of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency related to terrorism. Especially after the CIA lost its coordinating role over the entire Intelligence Community , it is impossible to understand US counterterrorism by looking at the CIA alone...
- Extrajudicial killing
- Justifiable homicideJustifiable homicideThe United States' concept of justifiable homicide in criminal law stands on the dividing line between an excuse, justification and an exculpation. It is different from other forms of homicide in that due to certain circumstances the homicide is justified as preventing greater harm to innocents...
- List of military strikes against presumed terrorist targets
- Protocol I to the Geneva ConventionsProtocol IProtocol I is a 1977 amendment protocol to the Geneva Conventions relating to the protection of victims of international armed conflicts. It reaffirms the international laws of the original Geneva Conventions of 1949, but adds clarifications and new provisions to accommodate developments in modern...
- Chapter VII of the United Nations CharterChapter VII of the United Nations CharterChapter VII of the United Nations Charter sets out the UN Security Council's powers to maintain peace. It allows the Council to "determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression" and to take military and nonmilitary action to "restore international peace...
- Manhunt (military)Manhunt (military)Manhunting is the deliberate identification, capturing, or killing of senior or otherwise important enemy combatants, classified as high-value targets, usually by special operations forces and intelligence organizations...
- Manhunt (law enforcement)Manhunt (law enforcement)In law enforcement, a manhunt is a search for a dangerous fugitive involving the use of all available police units and technology and sometimes help from the public....
- High-value target
Further reading
- Convenient Killing: Armed Drones and the 'Playstation' Mentality, Fellowship of ReconciliationFellowship of ReconciliationThe Fellowship of Reconciliation is the name used by a number of religious nonviolent organizations, particularly in English-speaking countries...
, September 2010
External links
- "Targeted Killing and Assassination: The U.S. Legal Framework", by William C. Banks and Peter Raven-Hansen, 37 University of Richmond Law Review 667 (2002–03)
- "Targeted Killing as active self-defense", by Amos Guiora, 36 Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law 319 (2004)
- "Targeted Killing", by Daniel Statman, 5 Theoretical Inquiries in LawTheoretical Inquiries in LawTheoretical Inquiries in Law is a biannnual peer-reviewed Israeli law journal published by Tel Aviv University....
1 (2004) - "Responses to Terrorism/Targeted killing is a necessary option", by Abraham D. Sofaer, The San Francisco Chronicle, March 26, 2004
- "Do targeted killings work?", by Daniel Byman, Foreign AffairsForeign AffairsForeign Affairs is an American magazine and website on international relations and U.S. foreign policy published since 1922 by the Council on Foreign Relations six times annually...
, 2006 - "Q&A: Targeted Killings", by Eben Kaplan, The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, January 25, 2006 - "In Israel, leaders struggle with targeted killings; Moral, legal quandaries mark decision to use select weapon against terror", by Laura Blumenfield, The Washington PostThe Washington PostThe Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, August 27, 2006 - "Targeted killing won't bring peace", by Mustafa BarghoutiMustafa BarghoutiMustafa Barghouti is a Palestinian democracy activist. He was a candidate for the presidency of the Palestinian National Authority in 2005, finishing second to Mahmoud Abbas, with 19% of the vote.Barghouti was born in Jerusalem...
, The New York Times, June 8, 2007 - "A targeted killing : How else is Israel meant to deal with terror?", by Uri Dromi, The New York Times, March 24, 2010 Third party briefing papers on the report:
}
}