Killing Bin Laden
Subtitle: a moral analysis
By: Bradley Jay Strawser, Assistant Professor, US Naval Postgraduate School
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Published: 2014
Place of publication: Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire; New York, NY
Language: eng
Number of pages: 79
ISBN-13: 9781137440709; 9781137434937; 9781137434944
Subjects: Assassination; Terrorism; Prevention; Moral and ethical aspects; Special operations (Military science); PHILOSOPHY / Ethics & Moral Philosophy; POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Freedom & Security / Human Rights; POLITICAL SCIENCE / Government / International; United States. Navy. SEALs; United States
Description: "Killing bin Laden: A Moral Analysis is a short treatise on the possible ethical justification for the U.S. mission to kill Osama bin Laden. After rejecting the standard justifications most commonly used in support of the killing, Strawser ultimately argues that the killing was ethically permissible as an act of defensive harm on behalf of innocents. The book contends bin Laden was morally responsible for a collection of unjust threats such that he was liable to be killed. Moreover, the many unique features of the bin Laden case -such as the use of pre-emptive harm and the collective agency of al-Qaeda - do not defeat that liability. The monograph also includes discussions of the apparent violation of Pakistan's sovereignty and the morally dubious celebrations of bin Laden's death, among other morally relevant issues. "--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 75-79).
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note:; title: AcknowledgementsIntroduction1.Liability to Defensive Harm2.The Case of UBL3.Possible Moral Justifications4.UBL's Liability to be Killed5.Objection: Defensive Killing or Execution? 6.Sovereignty Issues and Precedent Setting Problems7.The Celebration of a Liable Person's Death?Bibliography.