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18 New Eng. J. Int'l & Comp. L. 157 (2012)
Rules for When There Are No Rules: Examining the Legality of Putting American Terrorists in the Crosshairs Abroad

handle is hein.journals/newenjic18 and id is 159 raw text is: RULES FOR WHEN THERE ARE No RULES: EXAMINING THE LEGALITY OF PUTTING AMERICAN TERRORISTS IN THE CROSSHAIRS ABROAD TOREN G. EVERS-MUSHOVIC* & MICHAEL HUGHES** I. INTRODUCTION A U.S. drone circles in the sky high above southern Yemen. From an altitude of 18,000 feet, its infrared camera zeroes in on a remote area in the mountainous Shabwa region of the country. Dark human outlines move around a compound of interest that intelligence indicates houses a number of high-ranking members of the terrorist group Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. U.S. military personnel watch this video feed, analyze the imag- es and decide to engage the compound. The drone releases a couple Hell- fire missiles on the compound and then circles back to assess the strike's effectiveness. It is not hard to imagine such a targeted killing. This paper defines targeted killing as the intentional slaying of a specific alleged terrorist or group of alleged terrorists undertaken with explicit government approval when the terrorist or group of terrorists cannot be arrested.' Since the at- * Lieutenant, Judge Advocate General's Corps, United States Navy. B.A., Tulane Universi- ty; J.D., UCLA School of Law. The co-author has served as an Appellate Defense Counsel, Trial Defense Counsel and Staff Judge Advocate at Multi-National Force Iraqi. The views expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of the Judge Advocate General's Corps, the U.S. Navy, or the Department of Defense. He would like to thank his wife, Roni, for her extraordinary patience, support, and guidance during the drafting of this article, and Captain Eric Price, JAGC, USN, for his advice. ** Lieutenant, Judge Advocate General's Corps, United States Navy. B.A., University of 157

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