![]() The official numbers say between 64 and 116 civilians were killed, along with around 2,500 members of terrorist groups. Last month, the administration released the cumulative death toll from counterterrorism strikes carried out mostly by drones outside of war zones under President Obama - primarily in countries like Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Libya. To date, there have been 10 times as many drone strikes under Obama as there were under President George W. Under the Obama administration, drone strikes targeting members of Al Qaeda, the Taliban, ISIS and their affiliates have skyrocketed. The ACLU’s deputy legal director, Jameel Jaffer, told The New York Times that while the document might reassure people that drone strikes are considered and authorized by senior members of government, it also “drives home how bureaucratized, and therefore normalized, this practice of killing people away from conventional battlefields has become.” He also said that it was a reminder of the powers that the next president would inherit.Īmerica’s first successful use of an armed drone came in Afghanistan in the fall of 2001. ![]() The document was released in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union. intelligence and military agencies disagree on a strike or when the target is an American citizen. The full document reveals that the president’s approval is needed when U.S. must determine with “near certainty” that the target is present, that non-combatants won’t be injured or killed, and that the government of the sovereign country is unable or unwilling to address the threat. Before a drone strike is launched, the U.S. The guidelines say lethal force should only be used when there is no option to capture “a terrorist suspect,” and only when the suspect poses a “continuing, imminent threat” to the U.S. The newly released 18-page document lays out when and how the U.S. can target individuals to be captured or killed outside of war zones as part of its counterterrorism efforts. Last week, after years of secrecy, the Obama administration finally declassified what has often been referred to as the drone strike “playbook.” quite literally wrote the rules on drone strikes. “And the countries that haven’t used armed drones, it’s only a matter of time before they do.” The American “Playbook” “The accessibility of drone technology is obviously increasing at a swift pace,” says Alyssa Sims, a research assistant at the New America Foundation’s International Security Program. administrations, from developing their own - perhaps more liberal - interpretation. ![]() But as the weapons proliferate, it’s unclear what if anything would prevent other nations, or even future U.S. has established its own case for what is and is not considered a legal drone strike. The growing number of nations and groups acquiring armed drones lends new urgency to the question: Who decides what justifies the legal use of a technology that’s been blamed for hundreds of civilian deaths? Until now, the U.S. ISIS has also been working to secure some. Hamas and Hezbollah already possess armed drones. ![]() Non-state actors are getting in on the game too. In all, 19 countries either have armed drones or are trying to acquire them, according to research by the New America Foundation. Great Britain, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Nigeria and Pakistan have used drones in combat. Fifteen years ago, the United States was the only country to have ever carried out a drone strike.
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