Posted on 02/14/2008 6:08:57 AM PST by nuconvert
The Targeted Killing of Imad Mugniyeh
By Alan M. Dershowitz
FrontPageMagazine.com |
Thursday, February 14, 2008
If Imad Mugniyeh - the Hezbollah terrorist mastermind who was responsible for hundreds if not thousands of murders – was indeed successfully targeted for assassination, his untimely death should be cause for celebration. I say untimely, because if he had been killed years ago, many innocent lives would have been saved.
At the time of this writing, no one can be sure whether Imad Mugniyeh is really dead, whether if he is dead he was killed by a car bomb, and who is responsible for his killing. But his targeting makes the strongest case for the appropriateness of targeted killing of terrorists who are being harbored by states that support terrorism.
Mugniyeh has been indicted by the FBI for the murder of hundreds of Americans. Syria, where he made his home, was unwilling to turn him over to the United States for justice. He continued to engage in terrorism.
The case for targeting him is compelling - legally, morally, religiously, and militarily. By any reasonable definition of that term, he is a combatant who has declared war on the United States, Israel, France and other countries whose citizens he has killed. Although he did not wear a uniform, he was a general in the terrorist war. Under the laws of war any combatant is a proper target, so long as the means used to kill him are “proportional” -- that is, he can be killed without disproportionate harm to non-combatants. When that condition is met, targeted killing is highly preferable to more conventional military means that have been employed over the centuries.
Throughout history, when one nation has been attacked it has been responded by counterattacking the attacking nation. The counterattack often takes the form of military invasion, air attacks and other conventional military means. Inevitably these military attacks cause large numbers of civilian casualties. Targeted killing on the other hand, if done properly, does exactly what its name suggests – it targets a combatant who is involved in ongoing terrorist attacks, and by killing him prevents the death of innocent civilians. Yes it is “extrajudicial” killing, but all military deaths are extrajudicial, as are conventional killings in self-defense and killings of armed felons who are escaping or resisting arrest.
What I am most opposed to are judicial killings, namely the death penalty for people who are already in custody. When a person such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is already in custody, there is an alternative to killing him – namely confining him for life. When a terrorist like Imad Mugniyeh is not in custody and cannot be captured, there is no reasonable alternative to killing him. Targeted assassination is the option of choice. So a hardy three cheers for whomever killed Imad Mugniyeh. It was a good deed, a lawful deed and a life-saving deed.
Actually, I’m still leaning toward this being a JWA: Jihadist Work Accident. As in his own bomb went off prematurely and killed him...
Two cheers for Alan ... but Willie Horton and Wayne Dumond tell us an incarcerated lifer is not necessarily removed from society. Also, there is the draw that keeping one of those mutts alive brings - more innocents killed in an attempt to free him. No, the only good scorpion is a dead scorpion.
And the taxpayer supports this criminal for a long time...Good solution. Some criminals need killin'...
Alan, Alan, Alan. Justice is a perception and different from law.
Good work, Bush.
Onward!
Mughniyeh was nearly captured in 1995 as he traveled from Iran to Sudan. Rather than cooperate with the FBI, the Saudi government tipped off Mughniyeh to the operation, intelligence officials said.
It should be 'a hearty three cheers'.
Geez.
As far as 'life in prison' goes, screw that. Kill these mutts when we aren't able to reach them. If we can capture them then a speedy trial followed by a righteous execution is the only way to be absolutely certain they'll never be involved in another murder again.
Not only does this writer have a very poor grasp of the English language, his logic circuits are faulty as well.
Now on to wiping the Assad clan from the face of the Earth forever.
the Saudi government tipped off Mughniyeh to the operation, intelligence officials said.
Just keep repeating: "The Saudis are our friends, the Saudis are our friends."
L
I don’t think my post said anything about cheers, hearty or otherwise. Nor do I see any grammatical errors in the sentence I posted. Every time the Saudis screw us like this, we should withdraw 10,000 of their U.S. visas and send some of them home.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
next
Just as long as we don't waterboard them or put panties on their head.
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