Anwar Al Awlaki Case Summary

Anwar Al Awlaki Case Summary

To assess the effectiveness of targeted killings, one of the most debatable targeted killings cases will be evaluated. This case study is about the death of Anwar al–Awlaki, who was killed in a drone attack in Yemen in September 2011. This case study shows the wider legal, ethical and moral complexities related to targeted killings. His selection as a target, targeting and subsequent killing had been authorized by President Obama and led to questions regarding the extent the killing of an individual who once held U.S. citizenship was in compliance with international and U.S. domestic law (Lowenthal, 2009). Al–Awlaki was an U.S. citizen (he held dual U.S. and Yemeni citizenship), he became radicalized, served as a recruiter for al Qaeda, and ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...citizens. In 2014, the Senate and House Intelligence Committees were at odds on this issue, with the Senate favoring an additional review process for such attacks and the House opposing this. The Senate committee also supports an annual public report on the casualties resulting from drone strikes, which the House committee also opposes (Lowenthal, 2009). A major issue that came about with UAV's was the lack of congressional oversight or "transparency." Although the intelligence committees are briefed on covert action findings, operations using UAV's are not considered covert action and sometimes do not have the same level of visibility as other covert operations. Some members of some of these intelligence committees suggested of establishing another secret court, similar to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), to review potential UAV operations. Opponent of this suggestions pointed out that courts review legal cases but are not intended to make wartime decisions and that such a court could, in effect, become superior to decisions made by the president as commander–in–chief and such a court would also not necessarily improve the due process rights of a proposed target as the target would have no representation in or chance to appeal the proceedings (Lowenthal,

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