Posted on 03/27/2010 8:48:16 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US government for the first time has offered a legal justification of its drone strikes against Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants, citing the right to "self-defense" under international law.
The CIA attacks by unmanned aircraft in Pakistan, Somalia and elsewhere have sharply increased under President Barack Obama's administration but have remained shrouded in secrecy, with some human rights groups charging the bombing raids amount to illegal assassinations.
Broaching a subject that has been off-limits for official comment, State Department legal advisor Harold Koh laid out the legal argument for the strikes in a speech late Thursday, referring to "targeting" of Al-Qaeda and Taliban figures without mentioning Pakistan or where the raids are carried out.
The United States was in "an armed conflict" with Al-Qaeda, the Taliban and its affiliates as a result of the September 11 attacks, Koh said, "and may use force consistent with its inherent right to self-defense under international law."
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"What I can say is that it is the considered view of this administration -- and it has certainly been my experience during my time as legal adviser -- that US targeting practices, including lethal operations conducted with the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, comply with all applicable law, including the laws of war."
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Under US law, "the use of lawful weapons systems -- consistent with the applicable laws of war -- for precision targeting of specific high-level belligerent leaders when acting in self-defense or during an armed conflict is not unlawful, and hence does not constitute 'assassination,'" he said.
He also argued that the US government was not obliged to offer legal rights to the militant figures targeted in the strikes as the United States was at war and acting in self-defense.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
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A battlefield convert?
File picture shows supporters of Pakistan's fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami party during a protest against US drone strikes in Pakistan. The US government for the first time has offered a legal justification of its drone strikes against Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants, citing the right to "self-defense" under international law. (AFP/File/Tariq Mahmood)
Map of Pakistan locating Miranshah, where at least six militants were killed
in a US drone attack on Tuesday (AFPgraphic/Martin Megino/Gal/Js)
Hear something? I think it is the sound of Huffington Post and DU posters heads exploding...lol. Someone should post this article over there.
Well, a helluva note, eh?
Let’s have some rock’n’roll to soothe their splintered factions..
the first time
Foreigner Concert Live 2007 Feels Like The First Time
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gswX45H6cjY
Predator International Omnipresence Precedent:
Philadelphia Daily News (PA) - October 8, 2003 - 30 NATIONAL
Sharon vows to attack enemies on heels of raid on Syria
Bolstered by U.S. support for Israel’s bombing raid in Syria, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said yesterday his nation won’t hesitate to attack its enemies anywhere - heightening concerns it may widen the Palestinian conflict by again striking countries it accuses of harboring terrorists. Since the attack on the reputed Islamic Jihad training camp in Syria on Sunday, there already has been shooting and mortar fire across the border between Israel and Lebanon,...
JPJ precedent for international strikes on barrooms and taverns, pubs, etc.
John Paul Jones attacks, April 23, 1778, just after midnight, Whitehaven, England but the brew slowed `em down...
"The wind having shifted, Ranger recrossed the Irish Sea to make another attempt at raiding Whitehaven. Jones led the assault with two boats of fifteen men on April 23, 1778, just after midnight, hoping to set fire to and sink all Whitehaven’s ships anchored in..some of the party were therefore sent to raid a public house on the quayside, but the temptation to stop for a quick drink led to a further delay. " -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Paul_Jones
LOL! Isn’t it interesting that the Obama Administration once again is making the same argument that the Bush Administration made....yet it is OK this time with the sociopathic media.
Target opportunity.
While they came out and offered a legal justification, they have at the same time opened themselves to debate and legal action, and various new levels of oversight and rules of engagement imposed for political reasons.
Dang, talk about a target of opportunity!
Not for nothing but......the drones are doing a fantastic job of destroying the enemy, and sometimes innocents. Yet our soldiers on the ground can’t shoot the enemy until it appears they will be or have been fired on and if we take them into custody they must be mirandized and God help the soldier that kills or injures an innocent civilian.
The list, ping
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