Using a remotely piloted aircraft, the US assassinated Rashid Rauf and Abu Zubair al-Masri, Nov. 16. Rauf was a Briton of Pakistani descent and the main suspect in a 2006 plot to destroy seven airliners headed for the US and Canada. Al-Masri was an operative of Al Qaida in Pakistan. The US confirmed the attack and the dead.
In its confirmation, the US did not apologize for the attack, nor even justify it. This is as it should be.
It should also be this way when Israel assassinates Palestinian terrorists, whether they have actually carried out their murderous plans or not.
In Rashid Raufs case, his plot was foiled, three of eight of the defendants in his case were convicted, while Rauf himself, not charged in that case, escaped from a Pakistani court in a separate terrorist case against him. Still, the US assassinated him. The US did not wait for him to carry out his plans or to be convicted. The US did not wait for the airliners to explode and did not read Rashid his rights. In this the US not only saved lives but also prevented draconian restrictions of our freedom that a massive terror attack surely would have brought in its wake.
Israel has waited too long to do the same to the leaders and the missile transporters of Hezbollah and of Hamas, in part because Israel is scared off by the outcries of humanitarian crisis it receives the moment it acts to defend itself from rockets in Gaza, and by the outcries of civilian casualties the moment it acts to defend itself from kidnappings from Lebanon. Israel should continue to do her best to minimize humanitarian crises and civilian casualties but should also follow the lead of the US and go after her enemies, before her enemies go after her.
