Moammar Gadafi was a tyrant and something of a nut job. I’m all for deposing dictators. But once again, the U.S. has participated in a summary execution — in this case, by an angry mob — that seems a little bit out of synch with international law.
I was one of the few people who didn’t like the idea that Osama Bin Laden was shot — apparently not during a fight but intentionally killed as part of a military action. OBL was a bad guy, and should have been tried as a criminal; the international court on the Hague doesn’t issue the death penalty, but he could have been locked up for life. Same with Anwar Al-Awlaki; he wasn’t my kind of guy, either (I’m not big on violent religious fundamentalists who kill people) but he was a U.S. citizen who was never arrested and charged with a crime.
In fact, it turns out the White House has a secret panel that can put U.S. citizens on a “kill list.”
Again: Not defending any of these creeps. But is it really okay to just kill them? Even in wartime, aren’t there rules of law?