(New Republic) James Downie - Was it legal to kill bin Laden? "There are targeted killing issues where the legal background is complicated," says Brookings fellow Benjamin Wittes. But "[t]his isn't one of them." One week after the September 11 attacks, Wittes explains, President George W. Bush signed Public Law 107-40, in which Congress authorized the president "to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001." No one fit this description more closely than Osama bin Laden.
2011-05-04 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive