{"id":473956,"date":"2010-03-25T22:24:25","date_gmt":"2010-03-26T02:24:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/opiniojuris.org\/?p=11699"},"modified":"2010-03-25T22:24:25","modified_gmt":"2010-03-26T02:24:25","slug":"bleg-for-harold-koh%e2%80%99s-asil-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/473956","title":{"rendered":"Bleg for Harold Koh\u2019s ASIL Speech"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Kenneth Anderson <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Update: \u00a0I have had a chance to watch the video twice \u2014 I strongly recommend watching it, as it adds considerable language to the statements in the ASIL press release. \u00a0Given how much I have pressed publicly for a statement by the administration\u2019s lawyers, I want to say this much even while I\u2019m still doing a careful lawyerly parsing of the\u00a0text.<\/em><\/p>\n

First, let me praise Harold Koh for stepping up to the plate. \u00a0This is a plain, clear statement of the US view of the law and its application. \u00a0It is measured, and yet exceedingly direct. \u00a0My thanks and congratulations to the Legal Adviser for something that stands as clear opinio juris of the United States. \u00a0As someone who has been calling every more sharply for a public statement by the administration\u2019s lawyers on targeted killing and drone warfare \u2014 most recently in a\u00a0Weekly Standard article on exactly that theme<\/a>, and again this week in a sharply worded statement to a House subcommittee hearing, and a clip on NPR this morning recorded several months ago with Ari Shapiro \u2014 this was an enormously positive step.<\/p>\n

Second, on the substance. \u00a0On first read, I think this is a great statement. \u00a0It addresses an armed conflict with Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and associated forces. \u00a0But it also asserts self-defense several times as an alternative. \u00a0I had been greatly concerned, frankly, that the administration\u2019s lawyers would narrowly confine the justification for targeted killing using drones to situations that would really only cover the military using them on active battlefields. But on first read, this statement does not do that at all. It appears to address situations of safe havens, for example, and indeed reasserts the traditional US view \u2014 that sovereignty and territorial integrity are important, but the US preserves its rights to go after its enemies in their safe havens.<\/p>\n

I want a chance to go over the written text and say something much more exact. \u00a0But given how much, particularly this week on account of the Congressional testimony, my criticisms of the administration\u2019s lawyers have been in the news, I would like to make it known as publicly as possible that, \u00a0the Legal Adviser\u2019s statement on targeted killing and drone technology\u00a0is very positive, very strong, and admirably forthright. \u00a0My congratulations and thanks to the Legal Adviser.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

I couldn’t cancel classes tonight after so many snow days, so I unfortunately had to miss the Legal Adviser’s keynote at ASIL – I’m doing this from a mobile, but after rumors that the speech would address drone warfare and targeted killing at least in part, I’m very curious and eager to see it, and wonder if anyone could point me in the direction of a link to an official written text of the speech (I need to be able to read it on my mobile). \u00a0Very grateful if anyone can point me that direction. \u00a0Thanks.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Kenneth Anderson Update: \u00a0I have had a chance to watch the video twice \u2014 I strongly recommend watching it, as it adds considerable language to the statements in the ASIL press release. \u00a0Given how much I have pressed publicly for a statement by the administration\u2019s lawyers, I want to say this much even while […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4222,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-473956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4222"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=473956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473956\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}