Extrajudicial killings exclude justice, by definition.

Many of these extrajudicial killings by the US and Pakistan have provoked further human death and misery in retaliation. All of them provide justification for extrajudicial killings by other powers – including Al Qaeda.

'No Americans were harmed,' the President said glibly. 'They took care to avoid civilian casualties. After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body'. Perhaps no civilian were killed on Monday night at in Abbottabad. But this was not the first attempt at capturing Bin Laden by military attack. Earlier failed attempts have certainly killed innocent civilians – at Tora Bora in 2001 and elsewhere.

For President Obama to claim the moral high ground is staggering hypocrisy. 'The American people did not choose this fight,' he said. 'It came to our shores, and started with the senseless slaughter of our citizens. After nearly 10 years of service, struggle, and sacrifice, we know well the costs of war. These efforts weigh on me every time I, as Commander-in-Chief, have to sign a letter to a family that has lost a loved one, or look into the eyes of a service member who's been gravely wounded.'

To claim this fight started in 2001 is just appalling self-serving cant. Since 1945 the US has intervened militarily in more than 40 countries in pursuit of its economic or strategic interests – 13 of them with majority Muslim populations. Many of these, including the recent invasion of Iraq, were in defiance of strong international judicial opinion.

The invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan have now claimed the lives of more than 7200 coalition service men and woman and countless innocent Iraqi and Afghan men, women and children. The American people most certainly did choose those fights.

Ending this evil of government-sanctioned murder must require all nations, including the USA, to desist. Only then can the rule of law operate to achieve international justice and peace. This requires the outrage of all citizens of the world – including those of the US – at President Obama's Monday announcement.

The United States currently faces enormous social and economic problems. Its days as a leading global superpower seem already past. That so many Americans are now celebrating an illegal assassination is a testimony to this sad reality.

Until the people and the leaders of the US and its allies recognise this, there will be more families to lose a loved one, and more eyes of service members gravely wounded the President will have to confront.