This Week at War: Send in the Lawyers?
The question at the head of Bob Haddick's SWJ column today.
Damned straight ! Fire mission !:
I'll fire the touchhole to blast forth the Lima Bravo Sierra - or, as pictured, the Lima Foxtrot Sierra.
Seriously, I question any suggestion that AG Holder and LA Koh should embark on a lengthy defense of the legal justification for the OBL mission and result. Both of them, before they moved from the private sector to the Obama administration, were dead set against primary reliance on using the Laws of War against "terrs". At some point, they will get wobbly knees.
Ken Anderson, Should John Brennan or Eric Holder Simply Have Quoted Harold Koh?, and UN Special Rapporteurs Demand Information to Justify OBL Killing, and What Holder Should Have Said and Koh Should Say (long version); and John Bellinger, Bin Laden Killing: the Legal Basis (very short version) do a vastly better job because they are writing what they have written before.
Bob asks another question: "The SEALs did their job. Will the lawyers now do theirs?" The jobs are not remotely comparable. That being said, the small legal contingent at SWC is trying. Is our readership getting it ? I can't tell without feedback.
Regards
Mike
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