Comment: the dropping of "actively"

In post: Did The Department of Justice Say That The Government Would Not Assassinate Americans?

In reply to comment: What about self defense? (see in situ)

the dropping of "actively"

Submitted by brianpadraig on Mon, 03/11/2013 - 01:03. Permalink

Rand took this answer as a victory, probably because continuing to split hairs would not have gone over well and might've lost much of the political capital he gained in the filibuster, but it is interesting to note that Holder dropped the word "actively" from Paul's line of questioning. "engaged in combat" is a much easier to manipulate term than "actively engaged in combat"

still, it's an improvement, and we can continue to argue the definition of "engaged in combat" to clarify that it only allows for self-defensive actions, not pre-emptive killing.