“A trenchant summation” and analysis of the legal rationales behind the US drone policy of targeted killing of suspected terrorists, including US citizens (Publishers Weekly, starred review). In the long response to 9/11, the US government initiated a deeply controversial policy of “targeted killing”—the extrajudicial execution of suspected terrorists and militants, typically via drones. A remarkable effort was made to legitimize this practice; one that most human rights experts agree is illegal and that the United States has historically condemned. In The Drone Memos, civil rights lawyer Jameel Jaffer presents and assesses the legal memos and policy documents that enabled the Obama administration to put this program into action. In a lucid and provocative introduction, Jaffer, who led the ACLU legal team that secured the release of many of the documents, evaluates the drone memos in light of domestic and international law. He connects the documents’ legal abstractions to the real-world violence they allow, and makes the case that we are trading core principles of democracy and human rights for the illusion of security. “A careful study of a secretive counterterrorism infrastructure capable of sustaining endless, orderless war, this book is profoundly necessary.” —Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher of The Nation.
Author(s): Jameel Jaffer
Publisher: The New Press (ORIM)
Year: 2016
Language: English
Commentary: TruePDF
Pages: 353
Tags: Targeted Killing: United States, War And Emergency Powers: United States, Uninhabited Combat Aerial Vehicles (International Law), Terrorism: Prevention: Law And Legislation: United States, Law: Constitutional, Political Freedom & Security
INTRODUCTION ONE Chekhov’s Drones......Page 16
TWO “The Tight Leash”......Page 23
THREE Secrecy, and the Fiction of It......Page 39
FOUR Law Without Limits......Page 51
EDITOR’S NOTE......Page 72
1 - February 19, 2010 “Lethal Operation Against Shaykh Anwar Aulaqi"......Page 76
THE DOCUMENTS......Page 74
2 - July 16, 2010 “Applicability of Federal Criminal Laws and the Constitution to Contemplated Lethal Operations Agains Shayk Anwar al-Aulaqi"......Page 88
3 - March 25, 2010 “The Obama Administration and International Law”......Page 134
4 - May 25, 2011 “Legality of a Lethal Operation by the Central Intelligence Agency Against a U.S. Citizen"......Page 142
5 - September 16, 2011 “Strengthening Our Security by Adhering to Our Values and Laws”......Page 176
6 - November 8, 2011 “Lawfulness of a Lethal Operation Directed Against a U.S. Citizen Who Is a Senior Operational Leader of Al-Qa’ida or an Associated Force”......Page 182
7 - March 5, 2012 Untitled - Remarks of Eric Holder at Northwestern University School of Law......Page 206
8 - April 30, 2012 “The Ethics and Efficacy of the President’s Counterterrorism Strategy”......Page 214
9 - May 22, 2013 Untitled - Letter from Attorney General Eric Holder to Hon. Patrick J. Leahy......Page 232
10 - May 22, 2013 “Procedures for Approving Direct Action Against Terrorist Targets Located Outside the United States and Areas of Active Hostilities”......Page 240
11 - May 23, 2013 “U.S. Policy Standards and Procedures for the Use of Force in Counterterrorism Operations Outside the United States and Areas of Active Hostilities”......Page 268
12 - May 23, 2013 Untitled - Remarks of President Barack Obama at the National Defense University......Page 274
13 - April 1, 2016 “International Law, Legal Diplomacy,and the Counter-ISIL Campaign"......Page 286
14 - July 1, 2016 “Executive Order on the U.S. Policy on Pre & Post- Strike Measures to Address Civilian Casualties in the U.S. Operations Involving the Use of Force & the DNI Release of Aggregate Data on Strikes Outside Areas of Active Hostilities”......Page 302
15 - July 1, 2016 “Summary of Information Regarding U.S. Counterterrorism Strikes Outside Areas of Active Hostilities”......Page 308
16 - July 1, 2016 “United States Policy on Pre- and Post- Strike Measures to Address Civilian Casualties in U.S. Operations Involving the Use of Force”......Page 314
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 320
NOTES......Page 322
