I see that Attorney General Eric Holder seems to have the right idea.
I do find myself wondering what the reaction would have been had a member of the Bush administration made such a statement. Actually, I already know. I even remember how it caused conniptions when Bush said “Wanted: Dead or Alive.”
That said, why complain?
And by the way, Osama bin Laden is almost certainly still dead.
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Because there is a difference between the Commander in Chief saying it and the Attorney General saying it? What if Ashcroft or Gonzalez had said that?
Dean, you are dead wrong. It’s Generalissimo Francisco Franco who is still dead.
Kristian: what would the difference be do you think?
During a time of war the commander in chief can order the mass murder of millions of innocent civilians living in countries we are at war with (see also Dresden, Tokyo, fire bombing). Except for whatever treaty obligations we have, the President’s Liberty to prosecute war is pretty broad. Whatever recent supreme court decisions have had on how we treat captured combatants have not changed the rules that the President can order the assassination of enemy leaders (see also Yamamoto). We are under no obligation to try to apprehend any enemy combatants.
At no time is the attorney general authorized to kill or direct anyone to kill a person that has not been convicted of crime.
Yeah, yeah, so Ruby Ridge, Branch Davidians, yada. I think we can all agree that the fact that previous AGs allowed these things to happen don’t make it right, morally or legally. Even then, I doubt the AGs said, take them dead or dead. As much as I despise Janet Reno, I really don’t think she wanted all those people killed.
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