Table Of Content“Strawser’s deft handling of complex philosophical issues
as applied to the killing of bin Laden is practical ethics
at its very best: a must read for anyone with an interest
(academic or not) in the controversial practice of targeted
killing.”—Professor Cécile Fabre, Senior Research Fellow,
All Souls College, University of Oxford
“Bradley Strawser’s intricate, creative, and fascinating discus-
sion of the killing of Osama bin Laden accomplishes two rare
achievements. It advances a sophisticated and provocative
argument which will be of interest to specialists in ethics
and foreign policy and also provides students and general
readers with a clear and accessible introduction into applied
moral theory.”—Professor Michael B. Skerker, Department
of Leadership, Ethics, and Law, U.S. Naval Academy
“Professor Strawser has written a clear and concise analysis
about a highly contentious issue, namely Seal Team Six’s
killing of Osama bin Laden. Strawser presents the relevant
background, then deftly applies recent developments in
just-war theory to analyze the moral issues. His treatment
is balanced and fair, and his contribution will define the
terrain. I highly recommend this book to both students
and to practitioners in the field.”—Professor Fritz Allhoff,
Department of Philosophy, Western Michigan University
“A book as provocative as it is insightful; Strawser thor-
oughly analyses the complex ethics and subsequent deci-
sions associated with one of the most significant events in
the 21st century. Anyone yearning to gain a better perspec-
tive regarding the ethics of warfare and ‘hard’ decision
making will benefit from this read.”—Colonel Guy LeMire,
U.S. Army
DOI: 10.1057/9781137434937.0001
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DOI: 10.1057/9781137434937.0001
Killing bin Laden:
A Moral Analysis
Bradley Jay Strawser
Assistant Professor, US Naval Postgraduate School
DOI: 10.1057/9781137434937.0001
killing bin laden
Copyright © Bradley Jay Strawser, 2014.
Soffftcoverr eprint off thehardcover 1stedition2014 978–1–137–44070–9
All rights reserved.
First published in 2014 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world,
this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, B asingstoke,
Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN: 978–1–137–43493–7 PDF
ISBN: 978–1–349–49458–3
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Strawser, Bradley Jay.
Killing Bin Laden : a moral analysis / Bradley Jay Strawser.
pages cm
1. Bin Laden, Osama, 1957–2011—Assassination. 2. United States. Navy.
SEALs. 3. Terrorism—United States—Prevention. 4. Terrorism—Moral
and ethical aspects. 5. Special operations (Military science)—United
States. I. Title.
HV6430.B55S77 2014
958.10496092—dc23
[B] 2014030393
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
First edition: 2014
www.palgrave.com/pivot
doi: 10.1057/9781137434937
For my students
DOI: 10.1057/9781137434937.0001
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
1 Liability to Defensive Harm 6
2 The Case of Osama bin Laden 14
3 Possible Moral Justifications 21
4 UBL’s Liability to Be Killed 27
5 Objection: Defensive Killing or Execution? 43
6 Sovereignty Issues and Precedent Setting
Problems 56
7 Celebrating the Killing of a Liable Person 68
Bibliography 75
vi DOI: 10.1057/9781137434937.0001
Acknowledgments
Many people have helped me think through the moral
issues I grapple with in this book. Particular thanks go
to Steve Wall, Michael Lynch, and Jeff McMahan for our
many discussions over this particular case, my earliest
work on it, and the morality of defensive killing in general.
I am also indebted to many others with whom I have
discussed the moral questions surrounding the killing of
Osama bin Laden and my work in this book. These include
Cecile Fabre, Helen Frowe, David Rodin, George Lober,
Tom Bontly, Samuel C. Wheeler III, Muhammad Chaud-
hry, Hassan Farooq, Abbas Raza, Daniel Massey, Jeremy
Wyatt, Nancy Sherman, Len Krimerman, Alexis Elder,
Charles Junkerman, Patrick Lin, Fritz Allhoff, Kathy Faze-
kas, Casey Johnson, Doug Borer, John Arquilla, Gordon
McCormick, Leo Blanken, Abbi Strawser, Larry Strawser,
Todd Strawser, Victoria Johnson, Donald J. Joy, John Sher-
man, Jim Knutsen, Patton Dodd, Matthew Burnett, Jeff
Culver, Wilson Brissett, Glenn Paauw, and many others I
am sure I have failed to mention here. To you all: thank
you. I am further indebted to the helpful comments of two
anonymous peer-reviewers on this work at different stages
of its development.
Special thanks go as well to the participants at the public
lecture I gave on this topic for the University of Stanford’s
School of Continuing Studies.
Finally, I wish to thank my students—specifically my
students at the US Naval Postgraduate School, to whom
this book is dedicated. Many of these students are them-
selves Navy SEALs or Army Special Forces officers, like
DOI: 10.1057/9781137434937.0002 vii
viii Acknowledgments
those who undertook the actions discussed in this book. As the people
who shoulder the realities of war and the difficult moral questions
addressed in this book, I am indebted to them for their insights, wisdom,
and service. My many discussions of this case with my students at NPS
have significantly informed my analysis on the case and my thinking
about killing and war more broadly. I am lucky to have such unique and
exceptional people as students, and for that I am thankful. I dedicate this
book to my students and their sincere efforts to wrestle with the moral
implications of their work.
DOI: 10.1057/9781137434937.0002
Introduction
Abstract: In this chapter I introduce the main thesis of this
book: that Osama bin Laden was morally liable to be killed
as a justifiable act of defensive harm. I briefly mention
some of the competing accounts that could be offered in
defense of the killing and lay out the organization of the
remainder of the book. I clarify that I am not making a
legal argument for the killing, but am, rather, focusing
purely on the moral question of whether killing Osama bin
Laden was ethically permissible. I also briefly explain and
defend the methodology of contemporary analytic moral
philosophy that I use throughout the monograph.
Strawser, Bradley Jay. Killing bin Laden: A Moral
Analysis. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.
doi: 10.1057/9781137434937.0003.
DOI: 10.1057/9781137434937.0003
