Extrajudicial Killings Quotes
The U.S. was at war with Spain and Filipino insurgents for the control of the Philippines. During this war there were a few senior U. S. Officers who in later times would have been tried and jailed for war crimes. The men under them were brutal and committed atrocities at their orders. See {615368}.
Many Americans use this opinion to justify our Drone program. Others use it for other targeted killings or assassinations. However, Alston is opining about International Law. When a killing takes place in another country, the biggest problem is the laws of the country where the killing takes place. See {637113}. When a foreign diplomat is assassinated in America, we go after the killers because they have broken U. S. law even if the assassinating nation has convicted the target properly. Whenever we kill someone with a Drone Airstrike, we have the required conditions stated and have not violated International law. However, according to the Pakistani’s for example, we have broken their laws. However, in many occasions, there is little the country where the killing takes place can do anything other than making diplomatic protests unless they want to go to war and use force. Also, targeted killing is perfectly legal if the target is a combatant at war with the killing country, and this is the reason that most of the American Drone killings are legal from a U. S. point of view.