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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
CONTACT: ACLU Rachel Myers, (212) 549-2689 or 2666; media@aclu.org |
Pentagon Changed Military Commissions Rules to Legitimize Drone Program
Targeted Killing Program Remains Illegal, Says ACLU
NEW YORK - May 28 - According to a report by the New York
Times today, the Obama administration changed a new manual on military
commissions rules to accommodate its illegal drone program. Under the
old rules, "murder in violation of the laws of war" was defined as
killings by people who did not meet "the requirements for lawful
combatancy," which would have suggested that CIA drone operators - who
are not members of the military and do not wear a military uniform -
could be charged with war crimes for killing individuals using drones.
The American Civil Liberties Union
maintains that the U.S. program of targeting and killing people,
sometimes far from any battlefield, with little oversight or
transparency is illegal regardless of the military commissions rules.
The following can
be attributed to Jonathan Manes, Legal Fellow in the ACLU National
Security Project:
"Attempts to fix the military
commissions rules to protect drone operators completely miss the point.
Targeting people for killing outside armed-conflict zones is illegal
regardless of who operates the drones, except in narrow circumstances
where lethal force is used against a person who poses a genuinely
imminent threat of death or grave physical harm, and there are no other
means available to prevent that threat.
"Changing the rules in order to
accommodate CIA drone strikes underscores the flaws in the entire
'global war on terror' paradigm. The entire world is not a battlefield.
The government cannot use quintessentially warlike measures - deploying
missiles and other offensive force - anywhere in the world that it
believes a suspected terrorist might be located."
4 Comments so far
Show Allcould be charged with war crimes for killing individuals, deliberately or accidentally, using drones
No, from Obama to every member of the U.S Congresses who has voted for continued funding of Brzezinski's/Carter's Doctrine of 1980......"The United States has THE RIGHT to use military force when its VITAL INTERESTS, OIL are threatened,"
They all should be indicted for first degree murder.
That is why The United States is in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and building 5 bases in Colombia....And, all of that is illegal and immoral.
The Drone Attacks, no matter how the Mainstream Media spins the Government's position, are nothing more than murder attempts.....There are kids in bases in Nevada who are deciding whether people look like: Taliban, Insurgents, or Militants and then authorizing the Drone Attacks......There is no evidence of wrongdoing or criminal activity, since THE U.S. MISSION is to protect the Afghan People, NOT!
Bribing people to turn in their neighbors is not sound CIA procedure either.
Obama knows that he is killing unarmed civilians, therefore that is first degree....If his goal were to protect them, then he has to try to capture those around the civilians....No attempt is made with a Drone to capture anyone it is to murder.
The People of the United States have been told that this is a "WAR against Terror" ......No one has said, "Every Drone Attack is a Terrorist Attack on the People of Afghanistan and Pakistan."
It is time to end this "EVIL"!
" If Hamlet were Alive Today..."
from Stardust
"To BE or not to BE, that is the conundrum,
whether tis nobler in the mind to IGNORE
the slings and arrows of outrageous DRONEDOM.
Or to take THOUGHT against a sea of U.S. terrorism,
and by arresting, depose them!
To LIE, to WEEP, no more,
and by a LIE, to say we END
this bloodbath and a 1000 unnatural DEATHS
that MILITARY is heir to.
To LIE, to WEEP, devoutley, we are DISSED!
To wake! Perchance to LIVE! Aye, there's the truth,
For in that choice of LIFE, PEACE may come,
When we have shuffled off this military BOIL!
Obama's defense, enabling, and acceptance of unconstitutional "counter-terrorism" policies that he largely continued from the Bush Admin. and in significant ways expanded into detention of numerous prisoners w/out trial or counsel, use of drone strikes killing many civilians, assassination of U.S. citizens, and use of torture "evidence" is very troubling.
There is zero chance I would vote for Obama and his "pragmatism" when he goes for reelection.