Just as Pakistan condemned the United States for carrying out the first drone strike in its lawless North Waziristan tribal region since the approval of ‘new guidelines for ties with US’ by the parliament two weeks ago, which also asked for cessation to drone attacks, a top US official said on Monday that drone strikes were legal, ethical, proportional and saved US lives.
“Broadly speaking, the debate over strikes targeted at individual members of Al-Qaeda has centered on their legality, their ethics, the wisdom of using them, and the standards by which they are approved,” John Brennan, President Barack Obama’s aide said in a landmark speech on counter-terrorism “ethics”.
“The United States government conducts targeted strikes against specific Al-Qaeda terrorists, sometimes using remotely piloted aircraft, often referred to publicly as drones,” Brennan said in a speech to the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington.
“I’m here today because President Obama has instructed us to be more open with the American people about these efforts.”
Brennan said the strikes had been certified as complying with US law by US Attorney General Eric Holder, among other top officials.
“The constitution empowers the president to protect the nation from any imminent threat of attack,” Brennan said, adding that Obama’s action was also authorized by measures passed by Congress after the September 11 attacks in 2001.
He also argued that the strikes were ethical, proportional and conformed to US efforts to spare innocent civilians from being caught up in the crossfire.
“It is hard to imagine a tool that can better minimize the risk to civilians than remotely piloted aircraft,” Brennan said, in a speech briefly interrupted by a Code Pink anti-war protestor.
“There is absolutely nothing casual about the extraordinary care we take in making the decision to pursue an Al-Qaeda terrorist, and the lengths to which we go to ensure precision and avoid the loss of innocent life.”
Earlier talking to CNN, Brennan said al Qaeda’s top leaders, including its new chief Ayman al-Zawahri, continue to ‘burrow’ in Pakistan’s tribal areas, vowing to bring them to justice like Osama bin Laden.
“That’s why we’re working very closely with our Pakistani partners. So we’re not going to relent until we’ve brought them to justice one way or the other,” he said.
“We demonstrated the ability to do that with bin Laden. And we are in constant consultation with our Pakistani counterterrorism partners on a regular basis about how we can do this as soon as possible,” he said.
Pakistan’s Foreign Office, meanwhile, said the strike in North Waziristan, which killed three suspected militants on Sunday “are in total contravention of international law and established norms of interstate relations.” It said, “The government of Pakistan has consistently maintained that drone attacks violate its territorial integrity and sovereignty.”
“The matter will be taken up through diplomatic channels both in Islamabad and Washington,” the FO statement said.
US snubs Pakistan’s opposition to drone strikes
