Quote Originally Posted by fj1200 View Post
Not sure what dictionary you're using but I would probably put it in the assassinate category based on below. I don't know about Zawahiri but bin Laden a capture was attempted so not assassinated. Awlaki was also not committing a crime at the time of attack.

The WOT is not that young that we need to be making decisions like this completely by one branch of government. Congress has been a fail on this IMO and judicial has not even had a chance to comment outside of the Awlaki suit brought by his father though the courts have made a few decisions on some WOT policies and they are not always siding with the Executive. That last part should cause some concern for the administrations position.
By #2 in the definition, any drug dealer who conspires and plans to kill the competition, would therefore be performing an assassination.

And, like stated earlier, then EVERY major terrorist we have targeted in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere - all assassinations. Bitch about one then bitch about all - being an American doesn't make it any more/less of an "assassination".