Will Obama Be Prosecuted for Bin Laden Killing?
In case you missed it, Bin Laden's kids released a statement yesterday, condemning the US for killing their father and demanding to know why he was not given a trial. They claim to be assembling a team of "eminent British and international lawyers" for a possible complaint at the International Criminal Court or International Court of Justice.
At first, I thought this was nothing more than good-old Bin Laden solidarity, but reading today's excellent WSJ piece by Andrew Roberts ("Britain Goes Wobbly on Terror"), it's clear that a sizeable chunk of the chattering classes in Britain are with the Bin Ladens on this one. Two prominent English Barristers, Geoffrey Robertson and Michael Mansfield, have editorialized that Bin Laden should have been handled under criminal law, in which the "cops" can't use force against an unarmed guy like OBL.
I found it truly striking that neither of these British lawyers even considered analyzing the operation against Bin Laden under the rules of war. Admittedly, international law still has not caught up with international reality, but clearly, the better paradigm is war, not crime. This was not some Interpol case against a check-kiter. This was an operation against an organization that had already declared "war" on us. In a war, you can target high-profile leaders of the enemy -- as Obama's State Dept acknowledged in March -- and unless they're waving the white flag, you can kill them.
Foreign Policy magazine doubts that the Bin Laden family will get anywhere because they would have to convince "a UN body to champion its cause." Oh sure, that's a high threshold. Imagine trying to convince a UN agency to sue the United States over a targeted assassination! That's like science fiction!
If I were Obama I would lawyer up. And fast.
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Mar '11
Re: Will Obama Be Prosecuted for Bin Laden Killing?
It will be delightful to watch Mr Obama being hoist with his own petard.
Edited on May 11, 2011 at 11:57amJan '11
Re: Will Obama Be Prosecuted for Bin Laden Killing?
Interesting. They didn't lift a finger to prosecute bin Laden for killing over 3,000. But they're seriously considering prosecuting Obama?
I'm half-wondering whether we should allow this nonsense to continue. If only Nixon could go to China, then maybe only Obama could pull out of the U.N., and end this sorry excuse of "international authority." We need international law. We don't need the U.N.
Re: Will Obama Be Prosecuted for Bin Laden Killing?
I would suggest that the Bin Laden clan choose Spain as their venue. The judges there are capable of doing almost anything.
Jun '10
Re: Will Obama Be Prosecuted for Bin Laden Killing?
Big question...will Obama hire Eric Holder for his defense?
May '10
Re: Will Obama Be Prosecuted for Bin Laden Killing?
May Mr. Obama grow in his office over this, and recognize the folly of such institutions like the "International Criminal Court."
Re: Will Obama Be Prosecuted for Bin Laden Killing?
My friend started this web site called Punkvoter.com
to oust Bush in 2004 because he was a "War Criminal" among other things. In a small way, I wanted a Democrat to be elected president some day so my friend would have to grow up and face reality. It's a silver lining I guess. This site is now defunct and there seems to have been an effort to wipe it's memory from the internet in general.
The wikipedia page has even been deleted. How do you do that? I'm looking forward to the trial in Spain. I will take in a bullfight at Las Ventas in Madrid while I'm out there.
I still speak to my friend but we don't talk about what happened to his fancy site and campaign that raised well over a million dollars to give to anyone that hated George Bush. It's took awkward. It's the elephant in the room.
Sep '10
Re: Will Obama Be Prosecuted for Bin Laden Killing?
That's why they won't release the photos; without a body, how does anyone prove that he really is dead? So the official White House position, "Osama sleeps with the fishes . . .or not."
Feb '11
Re: Will Obama Be Prosecuted for Bin Laden Killing?
If PETA finds out it's "with the fishes" then Obama will have two lawsuits on his hands.