Does anyone think it was wrong for the US to kill Jihadi John?

[Kablooie]

I know many here are against the death penalty but I would think that for most people killing a monster like Jihadi John was completely justified and even moral.

I was wondering if anyone felt that even in this case a sentence of death was too extreme?

[scscholar]

1. I thought there was an EO...

that outlawed assassination.

[WinkyDink]

2. You're aware of our drones, right?

[ericson00]

3. no, it was not wrong.

it was right. The guy is a terrorist and a top recruiter for terror.

[Aerows]

4. Excuse me

while I don't give a damn that Jihadi John that cut off peoples heads is dead.

[phleshdef]

5. He had plenty of time to turn himself in.

I really have no problem with a different standard when it comes to known murderers who are probably armed and definitely dangerous at all times. If we capture them, they surrender, etc... thats different. But it was very unlikely we were going to capture that guy without having to use lethal force on him anyway.

[still_one]

6. not at all. I hope the piece of garbage sufferred when he was struck by the drone

[ZombieHorde]

7. I don't believe in morality

but I personally find the death penalty to be distasteful. If he could have been captured safely, I would have preferred that to outright killing him.

[whathehell]

11. How do you define morality?

because it sounds like you do believe in it, as do I, although I don't find this performer's death particularly immoral or distasteful.

[ZombieHorde]

14. Morality is categorizing events, people, thoughts, etc.

as good or evil, and/or right or wrong, and believing these categories have some objective basis.

[whathehell]

16. Oh, I see..You don't believe in Right and Wrong, but do believe in 'taste'?

That's reassuring.

[ZombieHorde]

18. I believe in personal preferences.

Just because I personally find something distasteful, undesirable, or whatever, doesn't mean it's wrong or evil. It just means I don't care for it.

[TeddyR]

35. The world isn't black and white

But I find that there are things that are evil, and shooting and blowing someone up at a café in Paris for the purpose of instilling terror is evil, as is cutting off the heads of hostages. Not distasteful, but evil. And I think it is a good thing that Jihadi John is dead, though I would have preferred that he be captured, tried and hung. Vaporizing is the next best thing.

[eridani]

8. No--but only if he was the only one killed n/t

[branford]

10. No. He was a combatant killed in the theater of war.

War is not the criminal justice system, and although Emwazi was unquestionably guilty of war crimes and terrorism, nothing mandated he be captured and tried rather than killed.

He did not receive the death sentence, he was an enemy soldier killed in action.

Moreover, even if the above were not the case, our government has a duty to protect us from clear and present dangers. Emwazi clearly fit that description, and neither I nor virtually everyone else will mourn his passing.

If Emwazi wanted the benefit of a trial, he could have surrendered himself to authorities whenever he wished.

[Contrary1]

12. I'm torn. I wish we could have caught him, and put him on trial...

But; the lives of those trying to capture him would have been in jeopardy. In the end, I tend to think the right decision was made...and I would hate to have been the one responsible for making it.

[KG]

13. well, revenge has been taken. oh goody.

and it moved forward the resolution to the conflict not one iota.

[Marrah_G]

15. No- because he was actively killing and enslaving others

He was not a prisoner, locked up, who could not hurt anyone else.

[beam me up scottie]

21. This.

Killing our prisoners is not the same thing as killing a religious extremist/psychopathic terrorist who cuts off his captives' heads for effect.

Not one tear shed.

[Judi Lynn]

17. Well, whoopee for murder. Great reason for a thread. Makes life worth living, doesn't it? n/t

[Dorian Gray]

23. His death

wasn't murder.

[gratuitous]

40. Well it wasn't natural causes

There's really no other category for this killing but murder.

[Kalidurga]

19. No

[Warren DeMontague]

20. No.

Look at it this way- did he believe he was fighting a war? I think he did.

Hence, he was a combatant.

That's what happens in wars.

[Warren Stupidity]

22. Well the mother of James Foley for one, thinks what we did was wrong.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/mother-james-foley-strike-targeted-jihadi-john-35175287

[Yo_Mama]

24. Not me. This is war, not a contained legal proceeding. n/t

[CJCRANE]

25. Kill a guy with a funny name but leave endless convoys untouched.

It seems a strange way to fight a war to me.

[CJCRANE]

36. His real name was

Terrorist Tom.

[smirkymonkey]

26. No. I only wish they had taken more of those bastards with him,

they all deserve to be eliminated swiftly and brutally.

[B Calm]

27. Right wingers won't be happy until we drop an atom bomb on the middle east.

[trumad]

28. About the same as killing Hermann Göring

[Donald Ian Rankin]

29. Yes, but I'm not one of them.

I am against the death penalty; I do not believe that a state should ever execute anyone it has the power to safely arrest, try and imprison.

But doing that in this case was clearly not possible, and killing him was no more wrong than killing any other enemy soldier in a war.

[Recursion]

30. He was a (self) declared combatant in a declared war theater

I dislike our drone policy, but comparing it to the death penalty probably obscures more than it reveals.

[bowens43]

32. I call myself a pacifist but in the case of ISIS , they need to be stopped by any means necassary

[peacebird]

33. Yes. Capture and prosecute him. Rule of law, that quaint old thing, innocent til proven guilty.

Taking short cuts, leaving out the prosecution in a court of law with the chance for his defense for instance, and just executing him is wrong.

How lucky we are that everyone we slaughter is a terrorist, or just 'collateral damage'.

Then there's gitmo, some people held for over a decade with no charges against them, and we can't release them because we fear they may be recruited into the war against us because of our treatment of them.

Edit to add: i am opposed to the death penalty as well. Life in prison, no chance of parole would be my preferred punishment

[MohRokTah]

34. Absolutely not!

Everything about killing Jihadi Johnny was the right thing to do.

[Stinky The Clown]

37. He is an enemy combatant. His death was part of a war.

That wasn't a "death sentence" killing. It was one warring party (us) killing and member of the enemy's forces.

Yes, this war is asymmetrical, but is still war.

[LiberalArkie]

38. I would have preferred that he had been captured and tried and put in prison for life.

But there comes a time when that is too costly in manpower to do, so they have to be killed. Much like the crooks back in the Elliot Ness days, sometimes it is just easier to fill them with so much lead that a crane is needed to pick them up. But my preference is all the information that can be gained by taking the culprit alive.

[NYCButterfinger]

39. NO.

[melman]

41. Watch some of the videos

it'll help you get over that real fast.