| Version | Summary | Created by | Modification | Content Size | Created at | Operation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Camila Xu | -- | 8783 | 2022-11-25 01:46:21 |
Targeted killing is defined as a form of murder or assassination carried out by governments. Some analysts believe that it is a modern euphemism for the assassination of a prominent individual by a state organization or institution outside a judicial procedure or a battlefield. Since the late 20th century, the legal status of targeted killing has become a subject of contention within and between various nations. Historically, at least since the mid-eighteenth century, Western thinking has generally considered the use of assassination as a tool of statecraft to be illegal. Some academics, military personnel and officials describe targeted killing as legitimate within the context of self-defense, when employed against terrorists or combatants engaged in asymmetrical warfare. They argue that drones are more humane and more accurate than manned vehicles, and that targeted or "named killings" do not occur in any context other than a declared state of war. Some twenty-six members of United States Congress, with academics such as Gregory Johnsen and Charles Schmitz, media figures (Jeremy Scahill, Glenn Greenwald, James Traub), civil rights groups (i.e. the American Civil Liberties Union) and ex-CIA station chief in Islamabad, Robert Grenier, have criticized targeted killings as a form of extrajudicial killings, which may be illegal under both United States and international law. According to statistical analyses provided by Reprieve, nine children have been killed for every adult the United States has tried to assassinate, and, in its numerous failed attempts to kill Ayman al-Zawahri, the CIA killed 76 children and 29 adult bystanders. Scholars are also divided as to whether targeted killings are an effective counterterrorism strategy.