MEMORANDUM ON EXECUTIVE ORDER 12333 AND ASSASSINATION
Colonel W. Hays Parks, USMCR (Ret.)
http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/cchrp/Use%20of%20Force/October%202002/Parks_final.pdf

Executive Order 12333 prohibits assassination as a matter of national policy, but does not expound on its meaning or application. This memorandum explores the term and analyzes application of the ban to military operations at three levels: (a) conventional military operations; (b) counterinsurgency operations; and (c) peacetime counter-terrorist operations. It concludes that the clandestine, low visibility or overt use of military force against legitimate targets in time of war, or against similar targets in time of peace where such individuals or groups pose an immediate threat to United States citizens or the national security of the United States, as determined by competent authority, does not constitute assassination or conspiracy to engage in assassination, and would not be prohibited by the proscription in EO 12333 or by international law.

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First of all, it seems very clear that our enemy's leaders, military commanders and other public and private assets are legitimate targets during time of armed conflict or war.

Secondly, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and members of his cabinet by John Wilkes Booth and his confederates (small "c") was never sanctioned, planned or assisted in any way by the Confederate government.

Finally, John Wilkes Booth is no hero. He was a simple murderer. Those men who stood and fought on the battlefields of the American Civil War and especially those who gave their lives for what they believed was right, were the heros.

...at least in my opinion.

Jim Martin