"Targeted Killing: Targeted Killing and America's Anguish"

2018/08/20

Since the 9/11 simultaneous terrorist attacks that struck the heart of the U.S., the United States has frequently carried out covert "targeted killings" against Islamic extremist terrorists. In particular, these increased dramatically during the era of President Obama, who received the Nobel Peace Prize and even visited Hiroshima.

It is neither the death penalty following judicial proceedings nor the killing of enemy soldiers in war. It is a kind of sneak attack carried out by the CIA, a civilian intelligence agency, borrowing drones and special forces from the U.S. military and operating in a way that leaves no "U.S. fingerprints or footprints." This book examines this "assassination-like" tactic based on knowledge from international politics and international law, shedding light on various issues surrounding its democratic control.

The motivation for writing this book dates back to the 9/11 attacks. Were those attacks, which drew the world's attention, a crime or a war? How should I explain the "fuzzy" feeling I had on the ground while covering the Bush administration's response as a reporter for the Washington Bureau? I intend for this book to be my own resolution to the dilemma I have carried until now.

After completing the Graduate School of Law at Keio and studying international relations in a doctoral program at a U.S. graduate school, I changed careers from academia to a newspaper company in my early 30s due to a chance encounter. Professor Fukashi Horie, who was my supervisor during my time in the Faculty of Law, encouraged me as a rookie reporter to "aim for the boundary between journalism and academia."

While conceiving this book, I reflected on my mentor's words once again. Because controversial tactics like targeted killing are accompanied by the "politics of words," distortions tend to form in the global discourse space of politics, government, business, and academia. I came to believe that a fusion of media's on-the-ground sensibility and knowledge honed through scholarship is essential to recognize and correct this.

The logic used by the U.S. administration to justify targeted killings is heavily influenced by natural law. I reread Hugo Grotius's "On the Law of War and Peace," who can be considered a representative of the modern natural law school. I also studied AI robotic weapons.

Japan is not unrelated to targeted killings either. With the Olympics approaching, I also made recommendations on what Japan should do regarding international terrorism.

"Targeted Killing: Targeted Killing and America's Anguish"

Hiroshi Sugimoto (Author)

Gendaishokan

336 pages, 2,200 yen (excluding tax)

*Affiliations and titles are as of the time of publication.