Forum Views ()
Forum Replies ()
Read more with google mobile :
Concerns raised over shooting of unarmed bin Laden
|
Edition:
U.S.
Article
Comments (1)
Full Focus
Editor's choice
A selection of our top photos from the past 24 hours. Full Article
Follow Reuters
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
YouTube
Read
Most U.S. voters say "no" to Palin or Trump in 2012
10:39am EDT
Bush declines Obama's invitation to "Ground Zero"
|
8:26am EDT
Instant View: Private sector adds 179,000 jobs in April
8:38am EDT
Obama decides not to release bin Laden photos
|
4:32pm EDT
Teens plead guilty to bullying girl who killed herself
2:40pm EDT
Discussed
167
Obama to make statement late Sunday, White House says
119
Concerns raised over shooting of unarmed bin Laden, burial
110
Donald Trump calls U.S. leaders ”stupid”
Watched
Bin Laden unarmed when killed - White House
Tue, May 3 2011
Video of bin Laden compound fire
Mon, May 2 2011
Fire ants form rafts to defy floods
Tue, Apr 26 2011
Concerns raised over shooting of unarmed bin Laden
Tweet
Share this
By Erik Kirschbaum and Jonathan Thatcher
BERLIN/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The killing of Osama bin Laden when he was unarmed has raised concerns the United States may have gone too far in acting as policeman, judge and executioner of the world's most...
Email
Print
Related News
Obama won't release bin Laden photos, cites risks
3:54pm EDT
Bin Laden killing was U.S. self-defense: U.S.
2:01pm EDT
Bin Laden killing highlights perils deep inside Pakistan
9:55am EDT
U.S. seeks answers on whether Pakistan aided bin Laden
Tue, May 3 2011
UPDATE 4-US says bin Laden photo "gruesome," weighs release
Tue, May 3 2011
Analysis & Opinion
White House won’t show bin Laden photo, do you agree?
We cannot stop at Osama bin Laden
Related Topics
World »
Osama bin Laden »
By Erik Kirschbaum and Jonathan Thatcher
BERLIN/SINGAPORE |
Wed May 4, 2011 3:59pm EDT
BERLIN/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The killing of Osama bin Laden when he was unarmed has raised concerns the United States may have gone too far in acting as policeman, judge and executioner of the world's most wanted man.
But Attorney General Eric Holder, the No. 1 U.S. law enforcement officer, told a Senate committee on Wednesday that the killing of the al Qaeda leader was legal.
"He was the head of al Qaeda, an organization that had conducted the attacks of September the 11th," Holder said. "The operation against bin Laden was justified as an act of national self-defense.
"It's lawful to target an enemy commander in the field. We did so, for instance, with regard to Yamamoto in World War II, when he was shot down in a plane," Holder said.
Even if bin Laden had tried to surrender, "there would be a good basis on the part of those very brave Navy SEAL team members to do what they did in order to protect themselves and the other people who were in that building," Holder said.
Former West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt told German TV the operation could have incalculable consequences in the Arab world at a time of unrest there. "It was quite clearly a violation of international law."
This was a view echoed by high-profile Australian human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson.
"It's not justice. It's a perversion of the term. Justice means taking someone to court, finding them guilty upon evidence and sentencing them," Robertson told Australian Broadcasting Corp. television from London.
"This man has been subject to summary execution, and what is now appearing after a good deal of disinformation from the White House is it may well have been a cold-blooded assassination."
THE LAST THING HE WANTED
Robertson said bin Laden should have stood trial, just as World War Two Nazis were tried at Nuremberg or former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was put on trial at the war crimes tribunal in The Hague after his arrest in 2001.
"The last thing he wanted was to be put on trial, to be convicted and to end his life in a prison farm in upstate New York. What he wanted was exactly what he got -- to be shot in mid-jihad and get a fast track to paradise and the Americans have given him that."
Gert-Jan Knoops, a Dutch-based international law specialist, said bin Laden should have been arrested and extradited to the United States. "The Americans say they are at war with terrorism and can take out their opponents on the battlefield," Knoops said. "But in a strictly formal sense, this argument does not stand up."
A senior Muslim cleric in New Delhi, Syed Ahmed Bukhari, said U.S. troops could have easily captured bin Laden.
"America is promoting jungle rule everywhere, whether in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan or Libya. People have remained silent for long but now it has crossed all limits."
John Bellinger III, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a legal adviser to the Secretary of State in the George W. Bush administration, said killing bin Laden was lawful under both U.S. and international law.
"The U.S. government's legal rationale will be similar to arguments used by both the Bush and Obama administration to justify drone strikes against other al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan and elsewhere," he wrote in a post on the council's website on Monday. "The Authorization to Use Military Force Act of September 18, 2001, authorizes the president to use 'all necessary and appropriate force' against persons who authorized, planned, or committed the 9/11 attacks."
Bellinger also wrote that the killing was not prohibited by a U.S. executive order barring assassinations. "The executive branch will also argue that the action was permissible under international law both as a permissible use of force in the U.S. armed conflict with al Qaeda and as a legitimate action in self-defense, given that bin Laden was clearly planning additional attacks."
BURIAL AT SEA A CONCERN
For several Muslim leaders, the more unsettling issue was whether the al Qaeda leader's burial at sea was contrary to Islamic practice.
His body was taken to an aircraft carrier where U.S. officials said it was buried at sea and in accordance with Islamic rites.
Saudi Sheikh Abdul Mohsen Al-Obaikan, an adviser to the Saudi Royal Court, said: "That is not the Islamic way. The Islamic way is to bury the person in land (if he has died on land) like all other people."
Amidhan, a member of Indonesia's Ulema Council (MUI), the highest Islamic authority in the world's biggest Muslim society, said he was more concerned about the burial than the killing.
"Burying someone in the ocean needs an extraordinary situation. Is there one?," he told Reuters.
"If the U.S. can't explain that, then it appears just like dumping an animal and that means there is no respect for the man ... and what they did can incite more resentment among Osama's supporters."
(Additional reporting by Andrew Longstreth in New York, Jeff Mason in Washington, Michael Perry in Sydney, Alistair Scrutton in New Delhi, Rebecca Conway in Islamabad, Olivia Rondonwu in Jakarta, Aaron Gray-Block in Amsterdam; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Howard Goller)
World
Osama bin Laden
Tweet this
Share this
Link this
Digg this
Email
Reprints
We welcome comments that advance the story directly or with relevant tangential information. We try to block comments that use offensive language, all capital letters or appear to be spam, and we review comments frequently to ensure they meet our standards. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters.
Comments (1)
rblivingston wrote:
Debating the way the alleged bin Laden was killed, or how a body was disposed appears to be false narrative to keep people from asking the key question: why believe officials’ claims about bin Laden’s death at all?
May 04, 2011 4:49pm EDT -- Report as abuse
See All Comments »
Add Your Comment
Social Stream (What's this?)
© Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters
Editorial Editions:
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
United States
Reuters
Contact Us
Advertise With Us
Help
Journalism Handbook
Archive
Site Index
Video Index
Reader Feedback
Mobile
Newsletters
RSS
Podcasts
Widgets
Your View
Analyst Research
Thomson Reuters
Copyright
Disclaimer
Privacy
Professional Products
Professional Products Support
Financial Products
About Thomson Reuters
Careers
Online Products
Acquisitions Monthly
Buyouts
Venture Capital Journal
International Financing Review
Project Finance International
PEhub.com
PE Week
FindLaw
Super Lawyers Attorney Rating Service
Reuters on Facebook
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.
Other News on Thursday, 5 May 2011 ICC prosecutor seeks 3 arrest warrants on Libya
|
Concerns raised over shooting of unarmed bin Laden
|
Italy's Berlusconi names possible successor
|
New Peru poll shows Humala, Fujimori nearly tied
|
Obama won't release bin Laden photos, cites risks
|
U.S. chases elusive currency-detection technology
|
Electronic Arts' quarterly profit rises
|
Unusual trade in Apple shares canceled: exchange
|
Intel's Ivy Bridge chip technology may drive mobile push
|
Renren's big day, a prelude to Facebook IPO
|
China sets up agency to tighten grip on Internet
|
Mariah Carey names new twins Moroccan and Monroe
|
Filmmakers back pro-democracy protesters in Syria
|
Special report: Why the U.S. mistrusts Pakistan's spy agency
|
Obama decides against bin Laden photo release
|
Pakistan Islamists to protest against U.S. bin Laden raid
|
Polls mean unhappy first birthday for UK coalition
|
Banker to the poor loses final appeal against dismissal
|
Syrian troops storm Damascus suburb, make arrests
|
Last WWI combat vet Claude Choules dies aged 110
|
Workers enter Japan reactor for 1st time since blast
|
Suicide car bomber in Iraq kills at least 15
|
Apple updates software to fix tracking glitch
|
Renren's big day, maybe a prelude to Facebook IPO
|
Bin Laden death video used as computer scam hook
|
Arnold Schwarzenegger picks drama for comeback
|
Simon Cowell tops Jagger, Sting in UK music rich list
|
Hollywood actor Jackie Cooper dead at 88
|
Zsa Zsa Gabor hospitalized with pneumonia
|
Godfather prequel novel in works for 2012
|
Pirates 5 written, but Johnny Depp wants delay
|
Bin Laden may have little impact on Iraq battlefield
|
Magnitude 6.1 quake strikes off Japan: U.S. geological survey
|
Pakistan army says to review U.S. cooperation if more raids
|
Earthquake rattles Mexico City, buildings shake
|
Allies offer Libyan rebels cash lifeline
|
Two mid-level al Qaeda leaders killed in Yemen
|
Exclusive: Facebook, Google mull Skype deals
|
Apple updates software to fix tracking glitch
|
Service launched for publishers to evade Apple cut
|
Sony says Anonymous set stage for data theft
|
Hollywood honors timeless, beautiful Sophia Loren
|
Britain's Cheryl Cole to be judge on US X Factor
|
Spanish film-maker tackles invisible legacy in book
|
Book Talk: The humorous side of Pakistan's troubles
|
Greece at new risk of being pushed off euro
Bodies of missing Tenn. mom, Jo Ann Bain, and daughter found
Female Breasts Are Bigger Than Ever
AMD Trinity Accelerated Processing Units Now in Volume Production
The Avengers (2012 film), made the second biggest opening- and single-day gross of all-time
AMD to Start Production of piledriver
Ivy Bridge Quad-Core, Four-Thread Desktop CPUs
Islamists Protest Lady Gaga's Concert in Indonesia
Japan Successfully Broadcasts an 8K Signal Over the Air
ECB boosts loans to 1 trillion Euro to stop credit crunch
Egypt : Mohammed Morsi won with 52 percent
What do you call 100,000 Frenchmen with their hands up
AMD Launches AMD Embedded R-Series APU Platform
Fed Should not Ignore Emerging Market Crisis
Fed casts shadow over India, emerging markets
Why are Chinese tourists so rude? A few insights