Drones and targeted killing : legal, moral, and geopolitical issues / edited by Marjorie Cohn ; with a foreword by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Cohn, Marjorie, 1948- editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Drone aircraft--United States.

Drone aircraft.

Drone aircraft--Moral and ethical aspects--United States.

Drone aircraft--Government policy--United States.

Government policy.

United States--Foreign relations--1989-.

United States.

International relations.

Geopolitics--United States.

Geopolitics.

Physical Description:

296 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Northampton MA : Olive Branch Press, an imprint of Interlink Publishing Group, Inc., 2015.

Summary:

The Bush administration detained and tortured suspected terrorists; the Obama administration assassinates them. Assassination, or targeted killing, off the battlefield not only causes more resentment against the United States, it is also illegal. In this interdisciplinary collection, human rights and political activists, policy analysts, lawyers and legal scholars, a philosopher, a journalist, and a sociologist examine different aspects of the U.S. policy of targeted killing with drones and other methods. It explores the legality, morality and geopolitical considerations of targeted killing and resulting civilian casualties, and evaluates the impact on relations between the United States and affected countries. The book includes the documentation of civilian casualties by the leading non-governmental organization in this area; stories of civilians victimized by drones; an analysis of the first U.S. targeted killing lawsuit by the lawyer who brought the case; a discussion of the targeted killing cases in Israel by the director of PCATI which filed one of the lawsuits; the domestic use of drones; and the immorality of drones using Just War principles.

Contents:

Introduction: A frightening new way of war / Marjorie Cohn

Part I The United States and Drone Warfare

Why drones are more dangerous than nuclear weapons / Richard Falk

Drones and assassination in the US's permanent war / Phyllis Bennis

The Predator war / Jane Mayer

Part II Targeted Killing and "Collateral Damage"

A global assassination program / Tom Reifer

The grim toll drones take on innocent lives / Medea Benjamin

Documenting civilian casualties / Alice K. Ross

Part III Illegal and Immoral

US policy of targeted killing with drones: illegal at any speed / Jeanne Mirer

Drone warfare and just war theory / Harry van der Linden

Al-Aulai v. Obama: targeted killing goes to court / Pardiss Kebriaei

The case of Israel: a covert policy of political capital punishment / Ishai Menuchin

Part IV The Future of Targeted Killing

Drone strike blowback / John Quigley

Surveillance drones in America / Jay Stanley

To stop the drones? / Tom Hayden

Appendix A. Department of Justice white paper: Lawfulness of a lethal operation directed against a US citizen who is a senior operational leader of Al-Qaʼida or an associated force

Appendix B. White House: Fact sheet: US policy standards and procedures for the use of force in counterterrorism operations outside the United States and areas of active hostilities.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781566569897

1566569893

1566569117

9781566569118

OCLC:

889426560