US denies it violated international law while using drones

Jay Carney says that the US chose a course of action that minimised loss of innocent life.


Afp October 22, 2013
"To the extent these reports claim that the US has acted contrary to international law, we would strongly disagree," White House spokesperson Jay Carney. PHOTO: REUTERS/FILE

WASHINGTON: The United States on Tuesday denied suggestions by rights organisation Amnesty International that drone strikes in Yemen and Pakistan and elsewhere infringed international law, and said it did all it could to avoid civilian casualities.

The comments followed the publication of reports on the US drone war by two human rights groups, and came a day before Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is expected to bring up concerns about the US tactic in talks with US President Barack Obama at the White House.

"We are reviewing these reports carefully," White House spokesperson Jay Carney said.

"To the extent these reports claim that the US has acted contrary to international law, we would strongly disagree.

"The administration has repeatedly emphasised the extraordinary care that we take to make sure counterterrorism actions are in accordance with all applicable law."

Carney also said that by deciding to use drone aircraft against terror suspects, rather than sending in troops or using other weapons, Washington was "choosing the course of action least likely to result in the loss of innocent life."

Earlier Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch unveiled reports detailing civilian casualties in a number of US operations in Pakistan and Yemen.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International are jointly calling on the US Congress to fully investigate the cases the two organisations have documented as well as other potentially unlawful strikes, and to disclose any evidence of human rights violations to the public. Those responsible for unlawful killings should be appropriately disciplined or prosecuted.

The groups called on Obama to provide a full legal rationale for targeted killings in Yemen and elsewhere.

The reports by the rights group came after the UN special investigator released their own report about the US strikes last week.

COMMENTS (35)

Solomon2 | 10 years ago | Reply

@Rex Minor: "The USA has the right to terrorise and carry out extra judicial killings of innocents old and young, women and children in foreign lands if the local Governments do not act? "

The USA does not have the right to carry out war crimes. Men, women, and children may die in war and whether or not their deaths constitute war crimes and what party is to blame depends on the individual circumstances.

For example, if a combatant is attacked while he holds a woman or child hostage and both are killed the war crime was committed by the combatant, not the party who killed them. On the other hand, if the women and children are some distance away from the combatant and it appears they were specifically targeted as well as the combatant that would appear to be a war crime if the action was deliberate and not a mistake.

Without specific proof, charges of war crimes must be proved by examining whether or not the attacker is systematically targeting innocents. Since statistics show drone strikes have overwhelmingly killed terrorists and not civilians then there is nothing here to back up the charge of "war crime".

That said, in the few instances cited where civilians were killed and no combatant appeared to be targeted, a general inquiry should be made to discover responsibility and circumstances, then proceed with criminal charges. Amnesty and HRC would do better to concentrate on this than throw out wild judgments first.

But do recall that it seems likely, looking at the casualty list, that when large numbers of civilians were killed in single attacks it's unlikely drones were to blame. Drones don't carry 500lb bombs that are capable of killing eighty civilians all at once. Whoever was responsible for that blunder - and we can guess, a few others - probably found blaming "drones" very convenient indeed and would not welcome a detailed investigation. And as far as I know the only attacker who has delivered 500lb bombs against targets in Pakistan since 9/11 has been Pakistan's own air force.

Look, I know Pakistanis are angry. They want to focus their anger on a target. Blaming foreigners is emotionally satisfactory. But it isn't going to solve the problem, is it? Indeed, if the U.S. stopped drone strikes tomorrow, the immediate victims of such a policy change would be Pakistanis themselves. They will either fall victim to terrorists or if they become terror sympathizers their souls will be stained:

Those Who Are Kind To The Cruel, In The End Will Be Cruel To The Kind.

Parvez | 10 years ago | Reply

Innocent American lives lost = 0. Innocent Pakistani lives lost = choose a number from 1 onwards. Doe the Americans really have a leg to stand on.......morally or otherwise ?

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