Last thoughts on the ‘kill-or-capture’ order of Bin Laden

Briefingat the White House by Press Secretary Carney: The team had the authority to kill Osama bin Laden unless he offered to surrender; in which case the team was required to accept his surrender if the team could do so safely. The operation was conducted in a manner fully consistent with the laws of war. [...]

Reprieve pursues international legal action against US and allies for drone attacks in Pakistan

According to Reprieve, “it has emerged that up to 2,283 people have been killed by US unmanned aircraft, or ‘drones’, since 2004 — with the numbers rapidly escalating in the past two years under President Obama. As many as 730 victims have been wholly innocent, according to one official source.” Preliminary investigation by Reprieve suggests [...]

Interview with John Rizzo, ex CIA acting general counsel

The Newsweek interview focuses on extrajudicial killings: How CIA staffers determine whether to target someone for lethal operations is a relatively straightforward, and yet largely unknown, story. The president does not review the individual names of people; Rizzo explains that he was the one who signed off. People in Washington talk about a “target list,” [...]

23 Civilian Killed by Drones Attributed to Data Overload

The New  York Times reports that when military investigators looked into an attack by American helicopters last February that left 23 Afghan civilians dead, they found that the operator of a Predator drone had failed to pass along crucial information about the makeup of a gathering crowd of villagers. But Air Force and Army officials [...]

More assassinations of Pakistani ‘informers’ because of increase in drones

The Washington Post reports that the current pace of assassinations of people who are labeled as US informers is unprecedented. The escalation parallels a massive surge in CIA drone attacks on North Waziristan. CIA drones have fired 112 missiles on Pakistan’s tribal areas this year, 88 percent of which hit North Waziristan, in a campaign [...]

Mary O Connel on the ‘rights v. security’ myth

Professor Mary O’ Connell talked about extrajudicial killings before the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties here. The only place where it is lawful today for the United States to intentionally target and kill persons is in Afghanistan. The only persons who may plausibly be held without trial until the end of [...]

District court dismisses Al-Aulaqi v. Obama

(ASIL) The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has dismissed a civil action filed on behalf of Anwar Al-Aulaqi, a dual U.S.-Yemeni citizen and an alleged al Qaeda supporter, currently hiding in Yemen. Al-Aulaqi’s father asked the U.S. court to issue an injunction prohibiting the U.S. government from executing an “unlawfully authorized targeted [...]

New calls for the increased use of drones in Pakistan, experts worry about side-effects

The United States has renewed pressure on Pakistan to expand the areas where CIA drones can operate inside the country, reflecting concern that the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan is being undermined by insurgents’ continued ability to take sanctuary across the border, U.S. and Pakistani officials said in the Washington Post.The U.S. appeal has focused [...]

Mary Ellen O’Connell ASIL piece on the international law of drones

This ASIL insight surveys the international law applicable to the recent innovation of weaponizing drones.

No human rights rift on targeted killings

Tom Malinowski of HRW replies at Ben Wittes blog: With respect to the argument that the U.S. is involved in a “non-international” (meaning non-intergovernmental) armed conflict in Yemen, triggering the application of the laws of war, Ben is right that we have not contested it.  Nor have we asserted it.  This is, as they say, [...]