The United States said on Wednesday that killing al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was an act of national self-defence, countering allegations the raid by US commandos on his Pakistani hide-out was illegal. US Attorney General Eric Holder said bin Laden was a legitimate military target and he had made no attempt to surrender to the American forces that stormed his fortified compound near Islamabad on Monday, and shot him in the head.
"It was justified as an act of national self-defence," Holder told the Senate Judiciary Committee, citing bin Laden's admission of being involved in the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. It was lawful to target bin Laden because he was the enemy commander in the field and the operation was conducted in a way that was consistent with US laws and values, he said, adding that it was a "kill or capture mission."
"If he had surrendered, attempted to surrender, I think we should obviously have accepted that, but there was no indication that he wanted to do that and therefore his killing was appropriate," he said. US acknowledgement on Tuesday that bin Laden was unarmed when shot dead had raised accusations Washington had violated international law.
Comments
Comments are closed.