Rights groups: Drone attacks killing more civilians than US admits

Two human rights groups say that U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen are killing more civilians than the United States has publicly admitted. 

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch also allege that many of the attacks are illegal under international law. 

{mosads}The two groups released
reports Tuesday that examined specific drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen
under the Obama administration.

The Amnesty International report said at least 29 civilians were
killed in the nine strikes it examined. The strikes took place in Pakistan’s tribal regions
in 2012 and 2013.

The Human Rights Watch report found at least 57 of the 82
people killed in six Yemen strikes were civilians, including one 2009 attack
that killed 41 civilians.

President Obama and his top counterterrorism officials have
defended the drone program as a lawful and effective way to target al Qaeda
militants operating in remote areas in Yemen and Pakistan.

Obama outlined the legal rationale for the program in a May
speech. He said precautions are taken to limit civilian casualties
and suggested that strikes would be scaled back.

“We act against terrorists who pose a continuing and
imminent threat to the American people,” he said at National Defense
University. “Before any strike is taken, there must be near-certainty that no
civilians will be killed or injured — the highest standard we can set.”

But the rights groups said that precautions were not taken in
many cases, and accuse the U.S. of violating international law.

The Human Rights Watch report said two of the six Yemen
strikes were “in clear violation of international humanitarian law — the laws of
war — because they struck only civilians or used indiscriminate weapons.”

“The other four cases may have violated the laws of war
because the individual attacked was not a lawful military target or the attack
caused disproportionate civilian harm, determinations that require further
investigation,” the report said. “In several of these cases the U.S. also did not
take all feasible precautions to minimize harm to civilians, as the laws of war
require.”

The Amnesty report said because the U.S. does not make basic information
available on specific strikes, it could not reach firm conclusions about the
context of the drone attacks in Pakistan.

“However, based on its review of incidents over the last two
years, Amnesty International is seriously concerned that these and other
strikes have resulted in unlawful killings that may constitute extrajudicial
executions or war crimes,” the report said.

Human Rights Watch said the U.St. may be “using
an overly elastic definition” of what is legal. 

The group pointed to an alleged recruiter for al Qaeda in
the Arabian Peninsula who was killed in a November 2012 strike, arguing
that recruiting activities “alone would not be sufficient grounds under
the laws of war to target someone for attack.”