Targeted killing and the war on terror

Targeted killing and war on terror.

Targeted killing, the ethics and real-politik

The notion of targeted killing is rapidly growing momentum in modern military warfare as it used more and more to decrease the number of civilian casualties. When discussing issues like targeted killing, ethics and real politik, one of the best examples to be taken into consideration is the targeted killing of Osama bin Laden and many of his followers in direct hits, aiming at reducing any loss of further lives. The war on terror has started as the war against the main terrorist organization which was at that time, as still is, the al Qaeda. It seems only fair that in the times where weapons of mass destruction, drones or high tech war machineries, targeted killing of various types of leaders be the best way ahead.

This research proposal aims at identifying the ethical dilemma in which states circle around when in comes to targeted killings, as well as looking at this issue from a real politik perspective. As the subject is vast and in current developing, some of the sources used will be based on recent opinions on the matters, as well as a more attentive analysis on the morality that lies with this type of assassinations. In a global environment, in which officially the rules of conduct are those that the International Justice Court establishes, what are the legal rights of countries to target various leaders and capture or kill them? Also important, the nature of war should be analyzed in such a proposal as it has changed dramatically over the last one hundred years. Even if technological breakthroughs make the various centuries of war and peace look different, these have not changed until the Cold War. As war was fought between tribes, cities or citadels, kingdoms and more recently states, the turn of the century shows a different type of war. One which is fought with different tools that the classical destroy ones like information, resource pressures, states against organizations or individuals or cold / static wars. In this respect, a proposed source on the new nature of war, including targeted killings, is provided in a comprehensive manner by David Lonsdale in his "The nature of war in the information age" (Lonsdale, 2004).

Targeted killing has long been a weapon of states against states in various types of wars, as well as between organizations and cartels. One of the best sources in this respect is Thomas Hunter's "Targeted Killing" which makes a very comprehensive analysis of the entire concept. Hunter defines this type of killing as being different from assassination during wartime; it is a risk from a political perspective with severe international implications; it is both positive and negative from the consequences it has and exposes usually civilians to unintentional harm. To quote Hunter, a targeted killing is "an intentional killing of an individual or individuals known or believed to represent a present and/or future threat to the safety and security of a state" (Hunter, 2009, pag. 2).

As Hunter and many authors argue, this usage of killing technique might be very effective, yet it enters a strong contradiction to the international regulations that require a fair and equitable trial. Yet, on the long-term, this is a double sided blade as eliminating the leadership of a terrorist organization does not represent a guarantee that that specific organization will cease to exist. In this aspect, Israel is one of the most active countries in targeted killings which have resulted in significant victories against their enemies but only for a short time: the killings of Abd al-Aziz al-Rantisi and Sheik Ahmed Yassin in 2004 or Yusuf al-Najjar in 1973 have not destroyed the significant of neither Hamas or Fatah -- to enumerate just three of the many targeted killings.

In the case of Osama bin Laden, his killing has obviously weakened the organizational structure and chain of command of al Qaeda. Together with the elimination of other leaders it has created severe fractures in the power of the terrorist activities, but, in the same time, has created a large number of martyrs, which help these type of organizations to gather more and more followers.