Was it assassination? Was it illegal?

[stopdiggin]

Good read on assassination, definitions, executive power and mission creep, legal vs illegal .. and how we got here with targeted killing.

A One-Word Accusation Swirls Around Trump’s Deadly Strike: Assassination

snip-
Government powers to target people abroad are becoming broader as well as “more contested and more complex,” said Susan Hennessey, executive editor of Lawfare, a legal affairs site. “The term ‘assassination’ is kind of the converse of that, an identification of where the government has exceeded its authority and violated its own ban.”

Past administrations have widened that authority so substantially that, “if you surveyed every legal scholar, you’re probably going to see a fairly strong agreement that this is probably lawful,” she said, referring to Mr. Suleimani’s killing.

But that would not make his killing just, moral or wise, Ms. Hennessey stressed, only that it would fall within legal precedents set by past administrations. And any rationale remains hypothetical. The administration has presented no legal justification, raising concerns that it may have acted without first establishing the order’s legality.
-snip

[link:http://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/07/world/middleeast/iran-soleimani-assassination.html?|

[myohmy2]

1. "...it may have acted without first establishing the order's legality."

...legal, schmegal, it's all legal if trump says it's legal...

...what wimp in Washington is going to challenge der Fuhrer and say it's not legal and do something about it?...the gutless Congress?...the invisible Supreme Court?...the puny press?

...nope, anything and everything's legal these days...

...just ask trump...

[stopdiggin]

2. and several previous administrations as well

Be assured, I think Trump is an absolutely lawless scum .. and the case is good that members of his administration have been "pushing" conflict with Iran for some time. But you also can't ignore the fact that there were serious questions about the "legality" of Obama's drone strike program as well. The point being, we've been pushing the envelope on this particular ethical quagmire for some time.

Should it be reined back in? In my opinion it certainly looks that way. But let's not forget that congress plays a role here -- by virtually abdicating any war making powers that it might have once had. leaving them firmly in the hands of the executive. And additionally that we didn't just arrive here overnight.