Geoffrey Corn on Targeted Killing

Geoffrey Corn, Associate Professor at the South Texas College of Law, on “Clean Kills” in Foreign Policy:

The term “targeted killing” has become a political lightning rod lately, with new revelations of the development of a CIA antiterrorism assassination program, but the concept really shouldn’t be so controversial. As a former U.S. Army judge advocate, my instinct is to assume that being as precise as possible when targeting an enemy opponent is generally a good thing. Nonetheless, debate persists over where such operations fall within the spectrum of international law. But in their inquiries into the legality of the strikes, critics may themselves be aiming at the wrong target.

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