The controversy surrounding targeted killings represents a crisis of conscience for policymakers, lawyers, philosophers and leading military experts grappling with the moral and legal limits of the war on terror. The book examines the legal and philosophical issues raised by government efforts to target suspected terrorists without giving them the safeguards of a fair trial.

PREFACE ; Introduction ; PART I: THE CHANGING FACE OF WAR: TARGETING NON-COMBATANTS ; 1. Allowing the State to Rebut the Civilian Presumption: Playing Whack-A-Mole Without a Mallet? ; 2. Targeting Co-belligerents ; 3. Can Just War Theory Justify Targeted Killing? Three Possible Models ; 4. Justifying Targeted Killing With a Neutral Principle? ; PART II: NORMATIVE FOUNDATIONS: LAW ENFORCEMENT OR WAR? ; 5. The Ethics of Targeted Killing on a Moral Continuum ; 6. Targeted Killing as Preemptive Action ; 7. The Privilege of Belligerency and Formal Declarations of War ; PART III: TARGETED KILLING AND SELF-DEFENSE ; 8. Going Medieval: Targeted Killing, Self-Defense, and the Jus ad Bellum Regime ; 9. Imminence in Justified Targeted Killing ; 10. Defending Defensive Targeted Killings ; PART IV: EXERCISING JUDGMENT IN TARGETED KILLING DECISIONS ; 11. The Importance of Criteria-Based Reasoning in Targeted Killing Decisions ; 12. Are Targeted Killings Unlawful? A Case Study in Empirical Claims without Empirical Evidence ; 13. Operation Neptune Spear: Was Killing Bin Laden a Legitimate Military Objective? ; 14. Efficiency in Bello and ad Bellum: Making the Use of Force Too Easy? ; PART V: UTILITARIAN TRADE-OFFS AND DEONTOLOGICAL CONSTRAINTS ; 15. Targeted Killing and the Logic of Double Effect ; 16. Targeted Killings and the Morality of Hard Choices ; 17. Targeted Killing and the Strategic use of Self-Defense ; INDEX

We are entering a new era in which targeted killing will be the preferred method of fighting enemies in a great many contexts. In terms of geographical reach, targeting precision, the manageability of the intervention, and the minimization of the cost and casualties, the practice is hugely attractive to militaries and politicians alike. But it also comes with potentially grave costs in terms of respect for basic moral principles, as well as established human rights and international humanitarian law. This book provides the best possible panorama of diverse and competing perspectives on emerging practices and will be an invaluable guide to those shaping future policies in this area.

`We are entering a new era in which targeted killing will be the preferred method of fighting enemies in a great many contexts. In terms of geographical reach, targeting precision, the manageability of the intervention, and the minimization of the cost and casualties, the practice is hugely attractive to militaries and politicians alike. But it also comes with potentially grave costs in terms of respect for basic moral principles, as well as established human rights and international humanitarian law. This book provides the best possible panorama of diverse and competing perspectives on emerging practices and will be an invaluable guide to those shaping future policies in this area.' Philip Alston John Norton Pomeroy Professor of Law, New York University `The debate over targeted killings has become the most contentious in the contemporary law and morality of war. Is it a legitimate tactic that saves lives compared with old-fashioned bombing campaigns? Or is it ruthless execution by non-uniformed spies piloting science-fiction drones from the safety of a distant control room? May states kill if capture is possible? May they kill their own citizens? What rights do the targets have? Is there a moral difference between killing anonymous enemies and killing men and women whose names you know? The law is ambiguous, and the moral issues cloudy. This volume is the most useful and thought-provoking discussion available, with a stellar group of authors who delve deep.' David Luban University Professor in Law and Philosophy Georgetown University

Innovative approach to the most controversial topic in military law and public international law today Interdisciplinary analysis allows readers to understand the issues at the intersection of law, morality, and military policy raised by the practice of targeted killing Philosophers, lawyers and military experts discuss a host of ethical and legal issues, crucially important to the War on Terror Addresses difficult ethical and legal questions about the status and rights of suspected terrorists Contributions from a wide range of experts in the field, including philosophers Jeff McMahan, Michael Moore, and Jeremy Waldron

Claire Finkelstein is the Algernon Biddle Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania, and a co-Director of the University of Pennsylvania Institute of Law and Philosophy. She writes in the areas of criminal law theory, moral and political philosophy, philosophy of law, international law, and rational choice theory. A particular focus of her work is bringing philosophical rational choice theory to bear on legal theory, and she is particularly interested in tracing the implications of Hobbes' political theory for substantive legal questions. Recently she has also been writing on the moral and legal aspects of government-sponsored torture as part of the U.S. national security program. In 2008 Finkelstein was a Siemens Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin, during which time she presented papers in Berlin, Leipzig, and Heidelberg. She is currently working on her book, Contractarian Legal Theory, and is the editor of Hobbes on Law (Ashgate, 2005). Jens Ohlin's research and teaching interests are focused on criminal law theory, public international law, and international criminal law. He is the author, with George Fletcher, of Defending Humanity: When Force is Justified and Why (Oxford University Press, 2008), which offers a new account of international self-defense through a comparative analysis of the rules of self-defense in criminal law. His scholarly work has appeared in top law reviews and journals, including the Columbia Law Review, Cornell Law Review, Harvard International Law Journal, American Journal of International Law, and several OUP edited volumes. His current research focuses on the normative application of criminal law concepts in international criminal law, especially with regard to genocide, torture, joint criminal enterprise and co-perpetration, as well as the philosophical foundations of collective criminal action. Andrew Altman is Professor of Philosophy at Georgia State University and Director of Research of the Jean Beer Blumenfeld Center for Ethics. Previously, he taught at George Washington University and Bowling Green State University. Professor Altman was a Liberal Arts Fellow in Law at the Harvard Law School and has published extensively in legal and political philosophy. His publications include the books, Critical Legal Studies: A Liberal Critique (Princeton U.P.), Arguing About Law: An Introduction to Legal Philosophy (Wadsworth) and A Liberal Theory of International Justice (co-authored with Christopher H. Wellman; O.U.P.) His articles have appeared in Philosophy and Public Affairs and Ethics, among other leading philosophy journals.

Innovative approach to the most controversial topic in military law and public international law today Interdisciplinary analysis allows readers to understand the issues at the intersection of law, morality, and military policy raised by the practice of targeted killing Philosophers, lawyers and military experts discuss a host of ethical and legal issues, crucially important to the War on Terror Addresses difficult ethical and legal questions about the status and rights of suspected terrorists Contributions from a wide range of experts in the field, including philosophers Jeff McMahan, Michael Moore, and Jeremy Waldron