It’s been a bad year for jihadis …

[aadler]

 
… but a very, very good year indeed for those who don’t want to be killed by them.

So, Anwar al-Awlaki is dead. That’s a shame, but only because they spent a million-dollar Hellfire missile obliterating him from the face of a grateful earth, instead of a 78¢ sniper’s bullet. He was an American citizen? that only means he was a traitor as well as an enemy, and thus more loathsome rather than deserving of more protection.

There really are no serious reservations attached to this welcome event. If I had been the one to kill him, I would have felt I had rendered human civilization a valuable service. As it is, I can only repeat what has already been said, in another (but slightly less pertinent) context:

Rest in pieces, asshole.

Comments

[aadler]

If Awlaki had been caught in the U.S., or caught at all, I don’t doubt that a trial would have been the result (if not necessarily the ideal solution). He operated outside the U.S., however, and — because capturing enemies means having to deal with captive enemies, most of the means for which were pre-emptively rejected by the current administration — we’re currently relying instead on long-distance assassination by drone strikes. That doesn’t particularly bother me, except for the likelihood that we’re losing the intelligence that could be gained by interrogating captured jihadis … but, in Awlaki’s case, the information he might have provided was far less significant than his own direct inspiration and exhortations, and any potential loss is far more than offset by the expeditious negation of this vile pollutant to humanity.

[jordan179.livejournal.com]

He operated outside the U.S., however, and — because capturing enemies means having to deal with captive enemies, most of the means for which were pre-emptively rejected by the current administration — we’re currently relying instead on long-distance assassination by drone strikes.

I think you're overestimating the ease of capturing (as opposed to merely killing) a specific enemy leader. Yes, it's possible -- but it's not as easy or safe as popular fiction makes it seem. It made perfect sense to kill Al-Awlaki rather than to risk American lives and the success of the operation in a difficult attempt to capture him alive.

[aadler]

That’s essentially what I said about Awlaki himself. My disagreement with the wholesale avoidance of captures, and my concern with the loss of potential intelligence, was expressed in regard to the larger process. His being extinguished is an unalloyed good.

[jordan179.livejournal.com]

The one case in which we probably should have tried for a capture was the case of Osama bin Laden. I suspect that the military opted for a kill because they did not trust the US civilian authorities to keep him in prison (or execute him), instead of releasing him as part of a some sort of peace treaty. Note the Karma Houdini fate of Yasser Arafat, and Olmert's release of some very, very bad men. And, of course, trying for a capture would have meant some additional risk to the forces involved: he might have had a holdout weapon and been able to effectively use it. Of course, I'm glad we killed Bin Laden anyway.

[aadler]

No argument from me.