Tag Archives: assassination

The Ethically Messy, Legally Muddled, Drone Killing of Anwar al-Awlaki

If a C.I.A. drone could have killed Osama Bin Laden before September 11, 2001, the world would be a better and safer place, and it is a better and safer place now that Anwar al-Awlaki—an American citizen in name only who was actively part of a hostile organization dedicated to killing Americans—is dead. President Obama did the right thing. Continue reading

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“The Mentalist” Ethics: Patrick Jane Osamas “Red John”

Tonight marked the season finale of “The Mentalist” on CBS, and by happy coincidence, Bruno Heller’s odd-ball murder mystery drama ended with its hero, Patrick Jane (played with brio by the excellent Simon Baker) executing his nemesis, the serial killer Red John, in a crowded food court…a Osama bin Laden style killing that, like the death of the Al Qaida mastermind, was both technically illegal and completely ethical. Continue reading

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Comment of the Day: “The Jaundiced Eye of Noam Chomsky”

Reader Trafford Gazsik comes to the defense of Noam Chomsky Continue reading

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Comment of the Day: “Osama’s Assassination: The Ethics Elephant in the Room”

Commenter Margo Schulter delivers a powerful, passionate, eloquent absolutist rebuttal to my post asserting an ethical defense of Osama bin Laden’s targeted killing/assassination/execution by U.S. military personnel. Continue reading

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Osama’s Assassination: The Ethics Elephant in the Room

It is better, safer and more honest to admit that executing bin Laden violates basic and established principles of fairness, respect for life and justice, but that in his very special case, it was the right and responsible thing to do. Continue reading

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Rep. Paul Broun: Failing the Duty to Confront and Failing America

Rep. Paul Broun, by trying to curry favor with the worst of our citizenry and failing his duty to confront calls to violence that are antithetical to free political discourse and American values, has thoroughly disgraced himself. Continue reading

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Unethical Post of the Month: Jonah Goldberg

In his latest post on the National Review website, conservative blogger Jonah Goldberg wonders why the CIA hasn’t had the sense to assassinate WikiLeaks founder and current renegade leaker Julian Assange. That’s right: Goldberg believes that in the national interest (for Assange has gathered and leaked massive amounts of classified information relating to U.S. military operations), the U.S. government should murder an Australian citizen without due process, a trial, or anything approaching regard for law, ethics, and human rights. Continue reading

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