Killer Drone Attacks Illegal, Counter-Productive

By Marjorie Cohn | TheHuffingtonPost | June 25th, 2012 | [Original Article]

"The Bush administration detained and tortured suspected militants; the Obama administration assassinates them. Both practices not only visit more hatred upon the United States; they are also illegal. Our laws and treaties prohibit torture. The Constitution forbids the government from depriving any person of life without due process of law; that is, arrest and fair trial. Yet President Obama has approved the killing of people, many of whom were not even identified before the kill order was given…

In the three and one-half years since Obama took office, between 282 and 585 civilians have been killed, including more than 60 children. "The CIA's drone campaign has killed dozens of civilians who had gone to rescue victims or who were attending funerals," a new report by the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism found….

Drone attacks also violate well-established principles of international law. A targeted killing is defined as the "intentional, premeditated, and deliberate use of lethal force... against a specific individual who is not in the physical custody of the perpetrator," according to Philip Alston, former UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions. Targeted or political assassinations -- sometimes known as extra-judicial executions -- run afoul of the Geneva Conventions, which include willful killing as a grave breach. Grave breaches of Geneva are punishable as war crimes under the U.S. War Crimes Act.

Christof Heyns, the current UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions, expressed grave concern about the targeted killings, saying they may constitute war crimes. He called on the Obama administration to explain how its drone strikes comport with international law, specify the bases for decisions to kill rather than capture particular individuals, and whether the State in which the killing takes place has given consent…

Likewise, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay recently declared that U.S. drone attacks in Pakistan violate the international law principles of proportionality and distinction. Proportionality means that an attack cannot be excessive in relation to the anticipated military advantage sought. Distinction requires that the attack be directed only at a legitimate military target." [Read More]