Justice Stevens Okays Bin Laden Killing

[BzaDem]

"Here’s the latest: The justice who wrote Supreme Court opinions upholding the rights of Guantanamo detainees said Thursday that the killing of Osama bin Laden was lawful.

“It was not merely to do justice and avenge Sept. 11,” but “to remove an enemy who had been trying every day to attack the United States,” Justice Stevens said at a dinner in Chicago, according to former Stevens law clerk Diane Amann, a University of Georgia professor who attended the dinner, which capped a Northwestern University symposium on the justice’s jurisprudence.

In 2004 and 2006, Justice Stevens wrote Supreme Court opinions holding that Guantanamo prisoners could challenge their detention before neutral judges, and that while in custody were entitled to the minimal protections of the Geneva Conventions. His rulings stressed that the laws of war—of which the Geneva Conventions, ratified by the U.S., form a principal part—cannot be ignored simply because the government found it “convenient” to do so.

But on Thursday, Justice Stevens indicated that those same laws of war permit the armed forces to kill an enemy commander who remains engaged in active hostilities against the U.S., as Navy Seals did on their May 2 operation inside Pakistan. “I have not the slightest doubt that it was entirely appropriate for U.S. forces to do,” Justice Stevens said, according to Ms. Amann’s account."

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2011/05/13/justice-stevens-okays-bin-laden-killing/

[ClarkUSA]

1. Ditto for the kill or capture order out on that POS Yemen Al-Qaeda leader/perp Anwar al-Awlaki

May he swim with the fishes soon.

[SDuderstadt]

2. + 1 n/t

[Angry Dragon]

3. All war criminals should be treated this way

and I do mean the war criminals that this country harbors............

[bluestateguy]

4. If bin Laden had surrendured or turned himself in

then I would have been all for him being kept alive.

But that did not happen, so ZAPPO!

[dkf]

5. Oh yeah.

Thanks for posting.

[OKNancy]

6. Since bin Laden was plotting to kill Obama.. hey it could be self defense n/t

[gratuitous]

7. "It was not merely to do justice and avenge Sept. 11"

Gee, Justice Stevens, do you have any of that, you know, legal stuff that proves beyond a reasonable doubt that bin Laden was involved in the Sept. 11 attacks? What's it called? Evvy dense or Testy Moan-y? Gee, those are funny words; I wonder what they mean? I'm not a lawyer, so I couldn't possibly interpret them, but I'll bet Justice Stevens could tell us. I remember the Bush administration promised us all a white paper that would lay out the case beyond not only a reasonble doubt, but any doubt whatsoever. And yet, the FBI's own wanted poster for bin Laden didn't list the Sept. 11 attacks as one of the crimes he was wanted for. Musta been a typo or something.

Seems to be a funny notion of "justice," Justice.

[SDuderstadt]

8. You cannot be serious n/t

[gratuitous]

9. Hanh?

Look up the FBI's wanted poster for yourself:

http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/usama-bin-laden

"Usama Bin Laden is wanted in connection with the August 7, 1998, bombings of the United States Embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya. These attacks killed over 200 people. In addition, Bin Laden is a suspect in other terrorist attacks throughout the world."

If you have a problem with it, the contact information for the FBI is at the link.

[SDuderstadt]

10. Because the United States decided to...

pursue a military solution. Duh.

Serious question: do you really think bin Laden is innocent?

[BzaDem]

11. Perhaps you have the funny notion, rather than Justice Stevens. Perhaps he knows the law of war

better than you.

:shrug: