Justice for bin Laden? ‘Justice has been done,’ states President Obama, and just-war scholars agree

NCR ^ | 05/04/2011 | JOAN FRAWLEY DESMOND

[GonzoII]

WASHINGTON — The term “just-war doctrine” never surfaced in President Obama’s announcement Sunday night that U.S. forces had killed Osama bin Laden.

But his precise remarks underscored the U.S. government’s awareness that the world would scrutinize the killing of the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks from many different vantage points, including the just-war doctrine.

Introduced by St. Augustine of Hippo, this doctrine has traditionally provided the moral framework for guiding and evaluating “the just defense of a nation against an aggressor.”

It does not directly address the issue of individual or collective guilt of the aggressor, or how a just punishment should be established. The teaching allows aggression to be stopped by proportionate means and nothing more; the president implicitly acknowledged this criterion when he noted that bin Laden was only killed after a 40-minute firefight in which he resisted capture.

“Justice has been done,” the president told the nation. He identified bin Laden as the leader of a global terrorist network “which had openly declared war on the United States and was committed to killing innocents in our country and around the globe. And so we went to war against al Qaeda to protect our citizens, our friends and our allies.”

The president reported that the team of Navy Seals and CIA operatives who conducted the raid on bin Laden’s compound “took care to avoid civilian casualties.”

Experts on just-war doctrine — also called just-war theory or tradition — have only begun to assess the full scope of the operation to kill or capture bin Laden. But several leading scholars stated that the action appeared morally justified, while noting that they were taking the president’s remarks at face value.

[Sacajaweau]

It may be ,orally justified but it was still an assassination.

[Freddd]

The only people who don’t want to disclose the truth, are people with something to hide

–Barack Hussein Obama

He’s sure been hiding a lot of things..

[fish hawk]

The far left will call it murder. The moderates will call it assassination. The rest of us will call it, the beginning of justice. We are not even yet.

[TheOldLady]

Forget-Me-Nots
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[mrsmith]

“He was an enemy to the human name. Those who declare war against the human race may be struck out of existence as soon as they are apprehended. He was not executed according to those beautiful legal ceremonies which are pointed out by the laws in criminal cases. The enormity of his crimes did not entitle him to it. I am truly a friend to legal forms and methods; but, sir, the occasion warranted the measure.
A pirate, an outlaw, or a common enemy to all mankind, may be put to death at any time. It is justified by the laws of nature and nations. “

Patrick Henry on illegal combatantcy (Josiah Phillips).

[saltus]

Thank you for that wonderful quote from P.Henry, a true patriot and great Christian.

[Yorlik803]

Who cares what you call it.....He is dead and thats all that matters.
What is more important is why is Obama telling metric tons of lies about it. There are as many versions and reasons for it than “Hitler Rants Videos”. Every lie cheapens the heroics of the men who shot this yellow dog.
Obama:Why tell the truth when a lie will suffice?

[JoeFromSidney]

Well, they asked all the right people. There was pretty general agreement that the assassination was justified.

I'd have liked to see more detailed analysis, but I don't expect that in a news article. Perhaps one or more of these people will write at greater length.