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Hypocrisy_Central's avatar

Would the US government be cool with one of its minions pulling off an assasination on US soil?

Asked by Hypocrisy_Central (26879points) May 11th, 2011

If a nation that was aligned with the US but not really liked, more like tolerated, found a US citizen to be a heinous criminal of their nation and snuck in by way of Canada assassinated him/her slipped back out of the country, after which they informed the State Department what they had done, how do you feel the US government will feel about it? Would the government feel that US sovereignty had been violated? If they were a valuable lackey but not but expendable because they were not highly strategic would they be attacked? Would their embassy here be closed?

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10 Answers

ucme's avatar

Hasn’t that already happened? I mean, Obama seems to have been subjected to a fairly hostile/robust character assassination from the moment he took office. Just a quiet observation from afar.

flutherother's avatar

I’m sure this would cause outrage in the American people who would demand retribution.

What if Pakistan, or the Pakistani Intelligence Services, sent an agent into the US to murder the head of predator operations in the tribal areas? They could argue that this was a defensive operation in response to drone strikes on Pakistani territory. It could lead to war.

JLeslie's avatar

I like to think that if the target was a murderous criminal, the US would be glad he was executed. The US might be annoyed it was done without their cooperation, because it would feel as though the US was not trusted enough to be in on the plan. Did the US troops slip into Pakistan by way of another country in your example? Why would they have to do that? Pakistan knows our military is in their country. I have not flown military in a very long time, but whenever I stayed on base in a different country, we just walked right off onto foreign soil.

tedd's avatar

If you think that hasn’t happened, either by a US ally or enemy, then you’re incorrect. Have you ever heard of Moussad?

You’re obviously comparing it to OBL and Pakistan, so the question would be who is assassinated/killed/whatever. We don’t have anyone comparable, so the situation is moot.

CaptainHarley's avatar

There would be blustering and posturing and saber-rattling, but the agitation would eventually blow over.

marinelife's avatar

Sigh. I am afraid that they would have a double standard. But if the criminal was a world-class monster who had murdered thousands, there would probably be nothing they could do since world opinion would be on their side.

filmfann's avatar

ObL was not a Pakistani, and the government of Pakistan generally agreed that ObL was a monster who had to be dealt with. Also, ObL had declared war on the US, and had conducted terrorist actions.
Finding an American equivalent is tough.

Qingu's avatar

FBI most wanted lists are all “capture or kill.” Some of those dudes are probably in the US.

I imagine even token resistance by any of these people would result in what people term an “assassination” like that of bin Laden.

wundayatta's avatar

We, of course, would have had a history of being unreliable allies who have double-crossed that other nation on numerous occasions? We are inefficient, and unable to keep our mouths shut about intelligence, right?

No. We wouldn’t be cool. We’d be horribly embarrassed, but if this nation gave us a lot of money, we would not really want to bite the hand that feeds us.

Now if you’re talking about the US as it is now, having a minor nation commit special ops activities on our turf, you can be sure that nation would get a serious talking to if they were an ally, and if they weren’t, they at least get bombed and possibly invaded. But, thems the perks of power.

mattbrowne's avatar

The Russian secret service assassinated Alexander Litvinenko in the UK.

UK authorities were not cool with it.

A similar outcry would happen in the US or any other country.

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