Assassination should be used if it will prevent civilian death and suffering.
The utilitarian justification for assassination lies in the many deaths and much suffering potentially prevented if just one man or woman is killed. The greater good demands a single evil act is done, especially if it would avert the immediate and certain danger of much worse evil. Oppressive, tyrannical dictators who sustain their own power through fear have no legitimacy. Who now wouldn't wish that Hitler had been killed in 1933? Or Pol Pot in 1970? The casualties directly inflicted as a result of their misguided policies could have been avoided. As a last resort therefore, assassination stands as a 'permissible means to a