Shoot First, Ask Questions...Never

A recent WaPo article reveals that Obama's weapon of choice for dealing with high-value terrorism targets has been just that...a weapon. In lieu of capturing the target for further questions, he has erred toward killing from afar. In fact, this shift in policy has led to "dozens of targeted killings and no reports of high-value detentions." Although some may say that missiles launched from a helicopter, for instance, are sure ways of eliminating a threat (and, therefore, enhancing national security), such a tactic forfeits valuable intelligence that no corpse could give. For me, this policy is misguided from both a utilitarian and a moral point of view.

That isn't all to say that we should torture the suspect once he or she is in our custody. In fact, there are utilitarian arguments against that, too. All I'm saying is that, if we truly are in a battle of good intelligence, why wipe out the source?