Law Commons^™

Drone strikes and targeted killing operations are generally the most ubiquitous aspect of 21st Century Western counterinsurgency and counterterrorism policy, affecting countries in the Middle East and other parts of the decolonized world. 

Debates around such conduct often pivot on questions of legality. In the talk I gave at the Middle East Institute in April this year, I provided a longer than usual historical perspective on such debates. The aim was to highlight the deficiencies, or, better, dangers of the current debate, by comparing it with the international law discussions around such conduct from another era. 

Two cases were placed …