Editing Assassination (section)

==Targeted killing==
{{Main|Targeted killing}}
[[File:MQ-1 Predator unmanned aircraft.jpg|thumb|[[General Atomics MQ-1 Predator|Predator]] [[Unmanned combat aerial vehicle|combat drone]]; sometimes used in targeted killings]]

Targeted killing is the intentional killing by a government or its agents of a civilian or "[[unlawful combatant]]" who is not in the government's custody.  The target is a person asserted to be taking part in an armed conflict or terrorism, by bearing arms or otherwise, who has thereby lost the immunity from being targeted that he would otherwise have under the [[Third Geneva Convention]].<ref name="Solis Targeting Combatants and Others"/> It is a different term and concept from that of "targeted violence", as used by specialists who study violence.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

On the other hand, [[Gary D. Solis]], a professor at [[Georgetown University Law Center]], in his 2010 book ''The Law of Armed Conflict: International Humanitarian Law in War'',<ref>{{cite book |last1=Solis |first1=Gary D. |year=2010 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6FKf0ocxEPAC |title=The law of armed conflict |publisher=Cambridge University Press |access-date=December 27, 2011|isbn=978-1-139-48711-5}}</ref>  wrote, "Assassinations and targeted killings are very different acts."<ref name="Solis Targeting Combatants and Others"/> The use of the term "assassination" is opposed, as it denotes murder (unlawful killing), but the terrorists are targeted in self-defense, which is thus viewed as a killing but not a crime ([[justifiable homicide]]).<ref name="HOV">''[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/03/26/EDGK65QPC41.DTL Targeted killing is a necessary option]'', Sofaer, Abraham D., [[Hoover Institution]], March 26, 2004</ref> [[Abraham D. Sofaer]], former federal judge for the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of New York|US District Court for the Southern District of New York]], wrote on the subject:

{{quote|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&nbsp;... U.S. officials may not kill people merely because their policies are seen as detrimental to our interests&nbsp;... 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.<ref name="sfgate2004"/>}}

Author and former U.S. Army Captain Matthew J. Morgan argued that "there is a major difference between assassination and targeted killing&nbsp;... targeted killing [is] not synonymous with assassination. Assassination&nbsp;... constitutes an illegal killing."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Morgan |first1=Matthew J. |title=The Impact of 9/11 and the New Legal Landscape: The Day that Changed Everything? |date=2009 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-0-230-60838-2 }}{{page needed|date=June 2024}}</ref> Similarly, [[Amos Guiora]], a professor of law at the [[University of Utah]], wrote, "Targeted killing is&nbsp;... not an assassination."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Guiora |first1=Amos |title=Targeted Killing as Active Self-Defense |journal=Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law |date=2004 |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=319–334 |url=https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/jil/vol36/iss2/4/ |id={{ProQuest|211100211}} |ssrn=759584 }}</ref> [[Steven R. David|Steve David]], professor of international relations at [[Johns Hopkins University]], wrote, "There are strong reasons to believe that the Israeli policy of targeted killing is not the same as assassination." [[Syracuse University College of Law|Syracuse Law]] William Banks and [[George Washington University Law School|GW Law]] Peter Raven-Hansen wrote, "Targeted killing of terrorists is&nbsp;... not unlawful and would not constitute assassination."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Banks |first1=William |last2=Raven-Hansen |first2=Peter |title=Targeted Killing and Assassination: The U.S. Legal Framework |journal=University of Richmond Law Review |date=March 2003 |volume=37 |issue=3 |pages=667–750 |url=https://scholarship.richmond.edu/lawreview/vol37/iss3/4/ }}</ref> Rory Miller writes: "Targeted killing&nbsp;... is not 'assassination.{{' "}}<ref name="google3">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i5lnAAAAMAAJ&q=assassination+%22targeted+killing%22 |author=Rory Miller |title=Ireland and the Middle East: trade, society and peace |publisher=Irish Academic Press |isbn=978-0-7165-2868-5 |year=2007 |access-date=May 29, 2010}}</ref> Eric Patterson and Teresa Casale wrote, "Perhaps most important is the legal distinction between targeted killing and assassination."<ref>{{cite report |last1=David |first1=Steven R. |title=Fatal Choices: Israel's Policy of Targeted Killing |date=2002 |jstor=resrep04271 |publisher=Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies |url=https://www.besacenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2002/09/msps51.pdf |author-link=Steven R. David }}</ref>

On the other hand, the [[American Civil Liberties Union]] also states on its website, "A program of targeted killing far from any battlefield, without charge or trial, violates the constitutional guarantee of [[due process]]. It also violates [[international law]], under which [[lethal force]] may be used outside armed conflict zones only as a last resort to prevent imminent threats, when non-lethal means are not available. Targeting people who are suspected of terrorism for execution, far from any war zone, turns the whole world into a battlefield."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aclu.org/national-security/frequently-asked-questions-about-targeting-killing |title=Frequently Asked Questions About Targeting Killing |publisher=American Civil Liberties Union |date=August 30, 2010 |access-date=August 13, 2012}}</ref>

Yael Stein, the research director of [[B'Tselem]], the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, also stated in her article "By Any Name Illegal and Immoral: Response to 'Israel's Policy of Targeted Killing{{' "}}:<ref name="Stein">{{cite journal |last1=Stein |first1=Yael |title=Any Name Illegal and Immoral |journal=Ethics & International Affairs |date=March 2003 |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=127–137 |id={{Gale|A109352000}} {{ProQuest|200510695}} |doi=10.1111/j.1747-7093.2003.tb00423.x }}</ref>

{{quote|The argument that this policy affords the public a sense of revenge and retribution could serve to justify acts both illegal and immoral. Clearly, lawbreakers ought to be punished. Yet, no matter how horrific their deeds, as the targeting of Israeli civilians indeed is, they should be punished according to the law. David's arguments could, in principle, justify the abolition of formal legal systems altogether.}}

[[Targeted killing]] has become a frequent tactic of the United States and Israel in their fights against terrorism.<ref name="Solis Targeting Combatants and Others">{{cite book |doi=10.1017/9781108917797.015 |chapter=Targeting Combatants and Others |title=The Law of Armed Conflict |date=2021 |pages=425–463 |isbn=978-1-108-91779-7 |first1=Gary D. |last1=Solis |author-link=Gary D. Solis }}</ref><ref name="nytimes2">{{cite news |last1=Kaplan |first1=Eben |title=Q&A: Targeted Killings |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/cfr/international/slot3_012506.html |work=The New York Times |date=25 January 2006 }}</ref> 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 used.<ref name="Solis Targeting Combatants and Others"/> Opinions range from people considering it a legal form of self-defense that decreases terrorism to people calling it an [[extrajudicial killing]] that lacks due process and leads to further violence.<ref name="Solis Targeting Combatants and Others"/><ref name="sfgate2004">{{cite news|url=https://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Responses-to-Terrorism-Targeted-killing-is-a-2775845.php |first=Abraham D. |last=Sofaer |title=Responses to Terrorism / Targeted killing is a necessary option |work=The San Francisco Chronicle |date=March 26, 2004 |access-date=May 20, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110829072847/http://articles.sfgate.com/2004-03-26/opinion/17416329_1_self-defense-killings-deadly-force |archive-date=August 29, 2011  |author-link=Abraham D. Sofaer}}</ref><ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite news |url=http://tech.mit.edu/V122/N54/long4-54.54w.html |first=Dana |last=Priest |title=U.S. Citizen Among Those Killed In Yemen Predator Missile Strike |work=The Tech |publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology |agency=[[The Washington Post]] |date=November 8, 2002 |access-date=May 19, 2010 |archive-date=December 3, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203204727/http://tech.mit.edu/V122/N54/long4-54.54w.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="google1426">{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=e08gAAAAIBAJ&pg=1426,2445697 |first= Mohammed |last=Daraghmeh|title=Hamas Leader Dies in Apparent Israeli Targeted Killing |newspaper=Times Daily |date=February 20, 2001 |access-date=May 20, 2010 |agency=The Associated Press }}</ref> Methods used have included firing [[Hellfire missile]]s from [[MQ-1 Predator|Predator]] or [[MQ-9 Reaper|Reaper]] [[Unmanned aerial vehicle|drone]]s (unmanned, remote-controlled planes), detonating a cell phone bomb, and long-range [[sniper]] shooting. Countries such as the US (in Pakistan and Yemen) and Israel (in the West Bank and Gaza) have used targeted killing to eliminate members of groups such as [[Al-Qaeda]] and [[Hamas]].<ref name="Solis Targeting Combatants and Others"/> In early 2010, with President Obama's approval, [[Anwar al-Awlaki]] became the first [[US citizen]] to be publicly approved for targeted killing by the [[Central Intelligence Agency]]. Awlaki was killed in a [[drone strike]] in September 2011.<ref name="latimes3">{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-jan-31-la-fg-cia-awlaki31-2010jan31-story.html|author=Greg Miller |title=U.S. citizen in CIA's cross hairs |work=Los Angeles Times  |date=January 31, 2010 |access-date=May 20, 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100507132759/http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jan/31/world/la-fg-cia-awlaki31-2010jan31| archive-date= May 7, 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref><ref name="washingtonpost3">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/06/AR2010040604121.html|first=Greg |last=Miller |title=Muslim cleric Aulaqi is 1st U.S. citizen on list of those CIA is allowed to kill |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=April 7, 2010 |access-date=May 20, 2010}}</ref>

United Nations investigator [[Ben Emmerson]] said that US drone strikes may have violated [[international humanitarian law]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/18/drone-strikes-us-violate-law-un |title=Drone strikes by US may violate international law, says UN |work=The Guardian |date=October 18, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=MacAskill |first1=Ewen |last2=Bowcott |first2=Owen |title=UN report calls for independent investigations of drone attacks |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/10/un-report-independent-investigations-drone-attacks |work=The Guardian |date=10 March 2014 }}</ref> ''The Intercept'' reported, "Between January 2012 and February 2013, [[United States special operations forces|U.S. special operations]] airstrikes [in northeastern Afghanistan] killed more than 200 people. Of those, only 35 were the intended targets."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://theintercept.com/drone-papers/the-assassination-complex/ |title=The Assassination Complex |work=[[The Intercept]] |date=October 15, 2015}}</ref>