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Going Medieval: Targeted Killing, Self-Defense, And The Jus Ad Bellum Regime, Craig Martin

Craig Martin

The U.S. targeted killing policy employs drone-launched missiles to kill suspected terrorists and insurgents in countries in which the U.S. is not clearly involved in an armed conflict. It has justified the program on two bases: that the U.S. is in an armed conflict with Al Qaeda and associated organizations; and that the U.S. can engage in the strikes as an exercise of self-defence. These strikes constitute a use of force against the states in which the targets are located, in jus ad bellum terms, and the claim to the right of self-defence is similarly reliance upon a jus ad …