Targeted killing

Predator drone; sometimes used in targeted killings

Targeted killing is the intentional killing–by a government or its agents–of a civilian or "unlawful combatant" targeted by the government, who is not in the government's custody. The target is a person taking part in an armed conflict or terrorism, whether by bearing arms or otherwise, who has thereby lost the immunity from being targeted that he would otherwise have under the Third Geneva Convention. Note that this is a different term and concept from that of "targeted violence" as used by specialists who study violence.

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, Georgetown Law Professor Gary Solis, in his 2010 book entitled The Law of Armed Conflict: International Humanitarian Law in War, writes: "Assassinations 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. Judge Abraham Sofaer, former federal judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 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.

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, Amos Guiora, Professor of law at the University of Utah, writes: "Targeted killing is ... not an assassination", Steve David, Johns Hopkins Associate Dean & Professor of International Relations, writes: "there are strong reasons to believe that the Israeli policy of targeted killing is not the same as assassination", Syracuse Law Professor William Banks and GW Law 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".

Targeted killing has been used by governments around the world, and 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 "hit list" target, and what circumstances must exist before the tactic may be employed. Opinions range from people considering it a legal form of self-defense that reduces terrorism, to people calling it an extrajudicial killing that lack due process, and which leads to more violence. Methods used have included firing a five-foot-long Hellfire missile from a Predator or 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. In early 2010, with President Obama's approval, Anwar al-Awlaki became the first U.S. citizen to be approved for targeted killing by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

See also

• Assassination
• CIA transnational anti-terrorism activities
• Extrajudicial killing
• Justifiable homicide
• List of military strikes against presumed terrorist targets
• Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions
• Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter
• Manhunt (military)
• Manhunt (law enforcement)
• High-value target

Further reading

• Convenient Killing: Armed Drones and the 'Playstation' Mentality, Fellowship of Reconciliation, 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 Law 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 Affairs, 2006
• "Q&A: Targeted Killings", by Eben Kaplan, The New York Times, 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 Post, August 27, 2006
• "Targeted killing won't bring peace", by Mustafa Barghouti, 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
• Alston, Philip (May 28, 2010). "Report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions: Addendum Study on targeted killings (A/HRC/14/24/Add.6)". Human Rights Council, Fourteenth session Agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development. http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/14session/A.HRC.14.24.Add6.pdf.  Third party briefing papers on the report:
  • McClure, Kevin (June 3, 2010). "UN official says 'targeted killings' fall into 'accountability vacuum'". Blog by Government Documents Librarian for the Downtown Campus Library at the Chicago-Kent College of Law. http://govdocsblog.kentlaw.edu/wordpress/?p=3332. 
  • Raja, Kanaga (May 2010). "UN expert criticises targeted killings, US drone attacks". Third World Resurgence (237): 32–35. http://www.twnside.org.sg/title2/resurgence/2010/237/human1.htm.