Operation Against Usama Bin Laden

United States Operation Against Usama Bin Laden in 2011

United States views on international law (based on the document “Digest of U.S. Practice in International Law”): On May 1, 2011, President Obama announced that the United States had “conducted an operation that killed Usama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaida, and a terrorist who's responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children.” Daily Comp. Pres. Docs. , 2011 DCPD No. 00314. In that announcement, President Obama described the operation, which followed months of work by the U.S. intelligence community to pinpoint bin Laden's location in a compound in Pakistan:

Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability. No Americans were harmed. They took care to avoid civilian casualties. After a firefight, they killed Usama bin Laden and took custody of his body.

President Obama went on to explain:

Over the years, I've repeatedly made clear that we would take action within Pakistan if we knew where bin Laden was. That is what we've done. But it's important to note that the U.S. counterterrorism cooperation with Pakistan helped lead us to bin Laden and the compound where he was hiding. Indeed, bin Laden had declared war against Pakistan as well and ordered attacks against the Pakistani people.

Mr. Koh provided the views of the U.S. government on the lawfulness of the operation against bin Laden in a May 19, 2011 post on the blog Opinio Juris, available at (internet link) opiniojuris.org/2011/05/19/the-lawfulness-of-the-us-operation-against-osama-bin-laden/. Mr. Koh's post began with excerpts from his 2010 address to the Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law, covered in the 2010 World Encyclopedia of Law at 715-19. The continuation of Mr. Koh's post appears below.

Developments

Given bin Laden's unquestioned leadership position within al Qaeda and his clear continuing operational role, there can be no question that he was the leader of an enemy force and a legitimate target in the U.S. armed conflict with al Qaeda. In addition, bin Laden continued to pose an imminent threat to the United States that engaged the U.S. right to use force, a threat that materials seized during the raid have only further documented. Under these circumstances, there is no question that he presented a lawful target for the use of lethal force. By enacting the AUMF [2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force], Congress expressly authorized the President to use military force “against … persons [such as bin Laden, whom the President] determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001 …in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such … persons” (emphasis added). Moreover, the manner in which the U.S. operation was conducted—taking great pains both to distinguish between legitimate military objectives and civilians and to avoid excessive incidental injury to the latter—followed the principles of distinction and proportionality described above, and was designed specifically to preserve those principles, even if it meant putting U.S. forces in harm's way. Finally, consistent with the laws of armed conflict and U.S. military doctrine, the U.S. forces were prepared to capture bin Laden if he had surrendered in a way that they could safely accept. The laws of armed conflict require acceptance of a genuine offer of surrender that is clearly communicated by the surrendering party and received by the opposing force, under circumstances where it is feasible for the opposing force to accept that offer of surrender. But where that is not the case, those laws authorize use of lethal force against an enemy belligerent, under the circumstances presented here.

In sum, the United States acted lawfully in carrying out its mission against Osama bin Laden.

Resources

See Also

• Use Of Force
• Arms Control
• Disarmament
• Nonproliferation