Is it morally acceptable for the United States to conduct targeted killing in another country?

One of the questions that some people still ask today is if it right for the United States government to conduct targeted killing in someone else’s country? One of the reasons why this question is still being asked is because the United States has been known to kill terrorist and suspected terrorist on foreign soil without permission from the government of those other countries. For example, Osama Bin Laden who was responsible for the 911 attacks was hunt down and killed in Pakistan by one of the US finest seal teams. In addition, “there has been an expansion of targeted attacks using Predator drones in a number of countries, including Libya, Pakistan, and Yemen, where no active war is actually being conducted” (Banks, 2013, p. 240-241). Even though I admire the fact that we capture Bin laden and many of these drone attacks have been successful in wiping some of the other suspected terrorists, I do not fully support the targeted killing that is being conducted by the United Stated, and here is why.

            First of all, as Banks (2013) points out, “nation-states are required internationally to respect each other’s sovereignty and therefore do not ordinarily conduct hunts in other states, let alone carry out targeted executions within their territory” (p. 240). Therefore, when the United States just decides to go into someone else’s backyard and do what they want, I find that kind of action to be very disrespectful to that other country. If we are going to be the leader of the world we should set the example and show leadership in every area and do what is right, which is as Banks (2013) also explains, submitting an application for extradition to the host state using the agreed-on legal processes set out the extradition treaties for the host state to arrest the fugitive (p. 240). This is what I believe should be at least tried first, because in addition to killing the suspected terrorist many innocent civilians sometime get kill during these targeted attacks. If the host state fails to do their part then we take further action.   

Reference

Banks, C. (Criminal Justice Ethics: Theory and Practice. (3^rd ed.) Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE

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