Should the U.S. reconsider assassination? Should the U.S. reconsider assassination?

Michael Rubin in an American Enterprise Institute article titled: An Arrow in Our Quiver: Why the U.S. Government Should Consider Assassination asks whether the prohibition against assassination put in place by President Ford, and strengthened by President Reagan should be reevaluated.

Part of the problem is that our tolerance for casualties has dropped significantly in the last 60 or so years. In WWII, 30 million civilians died. 4 million in the Korean War. A million or so in Vietnam. But fewer than 1,000 have probably died as a result of Isreal's incursion into Lebanon, and the world is outraged at that brutality.

The problem is that targetted assassination does work, as evidenced by Isreal's success against Islamic terrorists in the second Intefada. It was only when they suspended the program that they ended up where they are now. And, there is a certain amount of justice in targetted assassinations - only the most responsible suffer, and these are often those who suffer the least in more conventional warfare.