The death of Anwar al-Awlaki

Jerry Pournelle has an important and unsettling discussion prompted by the drone strikes in Yemen.

Proscription and Reasons of State

Proscriptions

We find ourselves in a complicated and dangerous world and time. The war with al-Qaeda cannot be fought according to the customs and practices of conventional war. That means we are left to swim in murky legal and constitutional waters.

The president (any president) now has the power to single out and order the death of individuals across the globe. Once some one is identified as an important and dangerous AQ leader, the hunt is on.

So far, it is easy to say good riddance to the people we've killed. Al-Awlaki and bin Laden repeatedly declared themselves at war with America. But as Pournelle notes, no one has laid out the boundaries of these new, extraordinary powers now in the hands of the executive.