Opinion

Drones to kill terrorists: it works — like It or not

The Issue: The Obama administration’s policy of killing terrorists with drones, rather than capturing them.

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As usual, Ralph Peters is spot on regarding President Obama’s use of drones to eliminate terrorist enemies, even if they are traitorous American citizens (“Bam’s Wise Kill-Don’t-Capture Rule,” PostOpinion, Feb. 7).

As stated by Peters, it is the only Obama-era policy that does work.

My objection, and that of almost all of the president’s opponents, is the simple fact that if a Republican president were applying precisely the same policy and using drones to kill America’s enemies, Obama and his political allies would be leading the charge against it.

President George W. Bush could attest to that.

Once again, it’s the double standard, particularly in the liberal media, that is most riling.

Rick Geyer

Bay Shore

Who gets to decide who lives or dies?

The president, with no oversight at all? Don’t think so.

Generals? They are not elected officials.

The same goes for the CIA director, the FBI director, et al.

The only way to decide is via the courts. This applies only to American citizens.

If the guy refuses to be captured and dies resisting, so be it.

But you can’t issue death warrants against citizens without due process, unless you don’t mind if it’s you in a drone’s sights someday.

Terry Steiden

Louisville, Ky.

What would the US’ response be if a foreign power — say Russia or China — used a drone attack to kill a known terrorist who represented a threat to its national interests on United States soil?

What if the attack were successful and killed the terrorist, but also resulted in the deaths of 20 innocent US citizens and destroyed a number of buildings?

Robert Fenili

Fairfax, Va.

Peters’ last sentence is still etched in my skull: “The only Obama-era policy that works.”

Absolutely true.

Jerry Coccoli

Manhattan