The use of assassination

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Rules of Preemption
Commentary, Christian Science Monitor, 6 November 2002. A CIA plane fired a missile in Yemen, killing an aide of Osama bin Laden and five associates. Yemen is not an enemy. But every preemptive strike against proclaimed and dangerous enemies pushes the legal boundaries on when a nation can operate militarily in another's territory without a UN mandate. Like terrorists, the US risks operating outside international law.
A Reporter's Life
Interview with Seymour M. Hersh, The New Yorker, 20 December 2002. A new trend in the war on terror: the targeting of individual Al Qaeda leaders. The controversial Phoenix assassination Program in Vietnam. Targetting Al Qaeda leaders. The role of the press when things go wrong.
Assassination as a tool of statecraft
Editorial by Kazi Anwarul Masud, The Daily Star (Bangladesh), Sunday 14 September 2003. An inquiry into the legality of assassination as a tool of state craft. Definition of assassination. Issue of assassinating terrorist leadership. As a policy, it is likely to unleash a storm that makes peace efforts very difficult.
The gloves are off in terror war, and everyone is at risk
By Robert Fisk, Independent (London), 23 March 2004. The Israeli murder of the cleric Yassin. For years, in the war of government-versus-guerrilla, you can kill the fighters on the street, but not the leadership. Now all has changed, and anyone who advocates violence—although they don't commit it themselves, are now on a death list. So who can be surprised if the rules are broken by the other side?