Editing Assassination (section)

==== United States government killing of citizens ====
In 2012, ''[[The New York Times]]'' revealed that the Obama administration maintained a "kill list" containing terrorism suspects.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Becker |first1=Jo |last2=Shane |first2=Scott |date=May 29, 2012 |title=Secret 'Kill List' Proves a Test of Obama's Principles and Will |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/29/world/obamas-leadership-in-war-on-al-qaeda.html |access-date=September 21, 2024 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> The list is sometimes referred to as a "disposition matrix", and President Obama made a final decision on whether anyone listed would be killed, without court oversight and without trial.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-06-13 |title=How Obama's 'Disposition Matrix' Kill List Could Be Used on U.S. Soil |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna52192630 |access-date=2024-09-22 |website=NBC News |language=en}}</ref> In September 2011, American citizens [[Anwar Al-Awlaki]] and [[Samir Khan]] were assassinated in [[Yemen]] by the United States government via drone strikes. Two weeks later, Awlaki's 16-year-old son, also an American citizen, was killed in a strike targeting [[Ibrahim al-Banna]], a senior operative in [[Al-Qaeda]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Whitlock |first=Craig |date=October 22, 2011 |title=U.S. airstrike that killed American teen in Yemen raises legal, ethical questions |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-airstrike-that-killed-american-teen-in-yemen-raises-legal-ethical-questions/2011/10/20/gIQAdvUY7L_story.html |access-date=September 21, 2024 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Greenwald |first=Glenn |date=5 February 2013 |title=Chilling legal memo from Obama DOJ justifies assassination of US citizens |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/feb/05/obama-kill-list-doj-memo |access-date=8 July 2023 |website=The Guardian}}</ref> Al-Banna was not killed in the strike.<ref name=":0" />