Friday 4 November 2011

Are Assassinations An Effective Way To Fight Terrorism?


Photo: 2011 has been a banner year for taxpayer-funded assassinations, including Osama bin Laden (left) and Anwar Awlaki (center). The U.S. can probably take a lot of credit for Moammar Kadafi's (right) messy end too. (AP Photo)

Assassination Backlash -- Andrew Cockburn, L.A. Times editorial

It's been a banner year for targeted killings, but are they an effective way to fight terrorism?

There is no denying that 2011 has been a banner year for taxpayer-funded assassinations — Osama bin Laden, Anwar Awlaki, five senior Pakistani Taliban commanders in October and many more. Given the crucial U.S. backup role in Libya, and the ringing exhortation for the Libyan leader's death issued by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton just before the event itself, we can probably take a lot of credit for Moammar Kadafi's messy end too.

Once upon a time, U.S. officials used to claim that we were merely targeting "command and control centers," rather than specific individuals, as in the hunt for Saddam Hussein during the 1991 Persian G [...]



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