Targeted killing

Targeted killing is defined as a form of assassination carried by governments against their perceived enemies. Analysts believe it to be a modern euphemism for the assassination (prominent premeditated killing) of an individual by a state organization or institution outside a judicial procedure or a battlefield. Since the late 20th century, the legal status of targeted killing has become a subject of contention within and between various nations. Historically, at least since the mid-eighteenth century, Western thinking has generally considered the use of assassination as a tool of statecraft to be illegal. Some academics, military personnel and officials describe targeted killing as legitimate within the context of self-defense, when employed against terrorists or combatants engaged in asymmetrical warfare. They argue that drones are more humane and more accurate than manned vehicles, and that targeted or 'named killings' do not occur in any context other than a declared state of war. Some twenty-six members of Congress, with academics such as Gregory Johnsen and Charles Schmitz, media figures (Jeremy Scahill, Glenn Greenwald, James Traub), civil rights groups (i.e. the American Civil Liberties Union) and ex-CIA station chief in Islamabad, Robert Grenier, have criticized targeted killings as a form of extrajudicial killings, which may be illegal within the United States and possibly under international law. According to statistical analyses provided by Reprieve, 9 children have been killed for every targeted adult the United States has tried to assassinate, and, in numerous failed attempts to kill Ayman al-Zawahri, the CIA has killed 76 children and 29 adult bystanders. Targeted killings have also been used in Somalia, Kenya, Rwanda and in Libya. During fighting in the Somali Civil War, Sean Devereux described torture and killing by warlords in Kismayo as 'targeted killings, a kind of ethnic cleansing', shortly before his assassination. Also in Africa, Reuters described 'targeted killings of political opponents' by Hutu army and militias in Rwanda during the Rwandan Genocide. The American State Department reported the 'politically targeted killings' were a prelude to general massacres in Rwanda. During the 1980s and 1990s, targeted killings were employed extensively by death squads in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Colombia, and Haiti within the context of civil unrest and war. During the George W. Bush Administration, targeted killings became a frequent tactic of the United States government in the War on Terror. Time was reserved on the President's schedule on Tuesday every week for Bush to review and approve the killing of selected targets, without judicial process. Instances of targeted killing by the United States that have received significant attention include the killing of Osama bin Laden and of American citizens Anwar al-Awlaki and his teenage son in 2011. Under the Obama administration, use of targeted killings expanded, most frequently through use of combat drones operating in Afghanistan, Pakistan or Yemen.