The killing of Osama Bin Laden

The killing of Osama, under President Obama's order, was triggered by the 9/11 event, where a series of airline attacks led to the death of approximately 3 000 Americans (Ouellet et al., 2017). The attack was conducted by the Al-Qaeda terrorist group led by Osama. From this incident, the American government committed to enhancing security in its borders and counter-terrorism within and outside America by dismantling terrorist groups. The leader of the terrorist group, Osama, was shot dead at his underground home in Pakistan. However, President Osama did not seek authorization to put the hit on Osama but consulted four lawyers to offer legal advice.

After the 9/11 attack, the united states of America discovered that Al-Qaeda was behind the massive destruction and joined forces with other nations to disconnect the group's network and dismantle the group to mitigate future attacks. However, Osama had been escaping across countries where he was killed in an underground settlement in Pakistan. Although the world was happy, especially the people who lost their family members during the attack, Obama was not authorized to accomplish the attack. However, in his speech after Osama's death, Obama stated that the move indicated their success in their military efforts to counter terrorism and uphold security as they had spent ten years trying to detain Osama in vain (Jose, 2017). Most Americans and the world were impressed by the Americans' effort to dismantle the group, as it could have planned more attacks on the US and other nations. Despite not being officially authorized, as Obama feared that the criminal would escape, it was clear that the US government was officially on a mission to end terrorism following the attack to console the victims of the 9/11 attack (Savage, 2015). Thus, although Obama was not authorized to order the military to kill Osama, he stated that it was for the nation's good as it was a way of dismantling and disrupting the Al-Qaeda group, which had been conducting mass killings of innocent people.

However, before ordering the raid on Osama in his compound in Pakistan in 2011, Obama sought legal advice from four lawyers who established rationales for overcoming possible legal questions about the action. They all agreed that since Osama had been highly fugitive, the only option to dismantle the group was to kill him, as capturing him would give him a chance to plot an escape (Savage, 2015). Therefore, although Obama did not seek authorization, the team of lawyers helped in justifying his actions. The team also analyzed the legal repercussions of ordering a raid on Pakistan land without the government's consent, authorizing a lethal mission, and burying the victim in an unknown place at sea. The lawyers concluded that under international and US law, there was an authorization for authorizing lethal missions. They also supported their argument by stating that although President Obama was bound to obey US law, he could go against International law in case of ordering "covert" action (Savage, 2015). In addition, it was illegal for Obama to fail to notify the Pakistani government of his plans to attack Osama. However, the team concluded that it was justifiable for the government to decide solely after identifying Osama's settlement as the inclusion of the Pakistan government would create tension, giving Osama time to flee. Therefore, although Obama was not authorized to order the Navy SEAl team to kill Osama, he consulted a team of lawyers who helped make the decision.

Furthermore, ordering a raid on Osama was justifiable as killing him limited the groups planning skills to execute more attacks which could lead to the death of innocent citizens. Also, if he were to be captured and follow the criminal justice system procedures, the probability of being executed would be high (Jose, 2017). However, according to the bill of rights, each human has a right to live. Considering that Osama was not armed, it could be argued that he should have been detained for trial rather than killed and burying him undersea without Pakistan's authorization. Also, Obama did not notify congress and conducted the attack secretly (Jose, 2017). Therefore, although the lawyers' efforts to justify the President's decision could indicate that the move was legally authorized, there still exists a debate on why the right criminal justice system procedure was not used despite Osama being unarmed.

The death of Osama bin Laden was attributed to the 9/11 attack. However, President Osama did not seek authorization to put the hit on Osama but consulted four lawyers to offer legal advice. The lawyers concluded that capturing Osama would give him time to plan his escape and would not dismantle the group. Also, seeking authorization by informing congress and the Pakistan government could create tension, making him flee to another location. Therefore, the only option the lawyers made was to order to kill him to limit the group's power to plan and execute more attacks. However, there are debates following the killing regarding Obama's intrusion into Pakistan's land to commit a lethal mission and violation of the right to life.

References

Jose, B. (2017). Bin Laden’s targeted killing and emerging norms. Critical Studies on Terrorism, 10(1), 44–66. doi.org/10.1080/17539153.2016.1221662

Ouellet, M., Bouchard, M., & Hart, M. (2017). Criminal collaboration and risk: The drivers of Al Qaeda’s network structure before and after 9/11. Social Networks, 51, 171–177. doi.org/10.1016/j.socnet.2017.01.005

Savage, C. (2015, October 29). How 4 federal lawyers paved the way to kill Osama Bin Laden (published 2015). Google.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2015/10/29/us/politics/obama-legal-authorization-osama-bin-laden-raid.amp.html