Killing with drones means killing without a trial. But going back to the 1960s, the United States has signed human rights treaties that outlaw arbitrary killing. Drone killings skirt these safeguards. No indictment. No judge or jury. No defense.

But, says the Obama administration, in war one can kill without a trial. The drone killings are premised on the "militants" being participants in the "war on terror," even though Obama avoids that Bush-era term.