Examples Of Exploratory Essay

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Bryce Richardson Exploratory Essay Professor Thompson Since the attacks of 9/11, through both the Bush and Obama administrations, the American government and military have engaged in the targeted and extra-judicial killing of both foreign and American citizens, ostensibly members of terrorist groups, overseas. Through the use of special forces raids, and drone strikes by America's fleet of Predator and Reaper aircraft, purported terrorists are targeted, attacked, and killed without the due process required for state-sponsored killing under American domestic law. The implications of this state-of-affairs are profound. On the one hand, the country has a clear imperative to ensure the security of itself, and of its citizens against all enemies, foreign and domestic. On the other hand, the basic tenets of American democracy grant all those accused of a crime the right to a fair trial. Given that terrorism inhabits a grey zone between crime and war, there is no clear ethical or moral imperative that can be made use of so as to evaluate the utility of these targeted extrajudicial…show more content…
Some would argue that by killing our enemies without due process, that we are no worse than our enemies in our barbarism. While such a statement is targeted at an audience's pathos, and is devoid of substance, it nevertheless points to the slippery sloped involved in targeted extra-judicial killing. Once powers contravening the Constitution have been put into the hands of government, this power is not easily removed. With this, in dealing with the dangers of terrorism, at home and abroad, America's policies do threaten its democracy. With this, it is of the utmost imperative that independent reviews of governmental policy, regardless of secrecy and classification, take place so as to ensure that extra-judicial governmental actions fall within the national interest, rather the whims of a given
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