Essential questions from Robert Wright on the assassination of suspected terrorists and drone policies of the Obama adminsitration:
If Harold Koh — the state department lawyer assigned the job of justifying Obama’s strategy — carries the day, America will be telling the world that it’s O.K. to lob missiles into countries that haven’t attacked you, as long as you think a terrorist may live there. Do we really want to send that message to, for example, Russia and China, both of which have terrorism problems? Or India or Pakistan?
And are we sure we want to say that, actually, due process of law isn’t really guaranteed all American citizens so long as there’s a war on terrorism — which, remember, is a war that may continue for eternity?
The answer to Wright's questions is of course no. That doesn't matter because the US or rather the Obama administration has found what it believes to be a cheap and effective way to fight terrorism everywhere. It is going to keep using it until the blowback.
Comments