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96 N.C. L. Rev. Addendum 1 (2018)

handle is hein.journals/addendum96 and id is 1 raw text is: 









DEFINE THE AUMF OR ELSE DRONE ON: THE D.C.
CIRCUIT'S INCOMPLETE WORK IN BIN ALI JABER V.
UNITED STATES*


                          INTRODUCTION
    The  terrorist attacks of September  11, 2001 occurred  almost
seventeen  years ago, but  their consequences  continue to  be felt
around  the world. The  United  States remains engaged  across the
globe, particularly in Southwest and  Central Asia,  in a war  on
terrorism.' Whatever consequences  are felt at home, the human toll
is felt deeply abroad, as exemplified by the litigants of Bin Ali Jaber v.
United States.2 As part of the War on Terror, the United States has
been conducting  a quasi-secret program of missile strikes fired from
unmanned   aerial vehicles (UAVs)   (also known  as drones)  at
suspected terrorists since at least November  2001.3 The plaintiffs,
Salem  and Waleed bin Ali Jaber, were not suspected terrorists, but in
August  2012, they were killed after being caught in the crossfire of a
U.S. missile strike.'
    When   surveyed, fifty-eight percent of Americans approved of the
drone  program.'  The  reason  for approval is unclear; likely, the
relatively low cost (both in tax dollars and in soldiers' lives) makes it
seem  preferable to boots  on  the ground  alternatives.6 But the
program  is not without controversy. Some commentators  worry  that
the United  States may  begin to deliver lethal force more liberally
since the lives of American service-members are not as immediately




    * @ 2018 William Cauley.
    1. See Remarks on Arrival at the White House and an Exchange with Reporters, 2
PUB. PAPERS 1114, 1116 (Sept. 16, 2001).
   2. 861 F.3d 241 (D.C. Cir. 2017), cert denied, 138 S. Ct. 480 (2017) (mem.).
   3. Id. at 250-51 (Brown, J., concurring).
   4. Id. at 243-44 (majority opinion).
   5. Id. at 252 n.1 (Brown, J., concurring) (citing Pew Research Center survey data at
Public Continues to Back U.S. Drone Attacks, PEW RES. CTR. (May 28, 2015),
http://www.people-press.org/2015/05/28/public-continues-to-back-u-s-drone-attacks/ [https://perma.cc
/Y9B3-OPP5]).
   6. Daniel L. Bynam, Why Drones Work: The Case for Washington's Weapon of
Choice, BROOKINGS (June 17, 2013), https://www.brookings.edu/articles/why-drones-work
-the -case -for-washingtons-we apon-of-choice/ [https://perma.cc/7MVF-BXGA].