US drone strikes 'crime against humanity': Analyst
US drone strikes carried out in Muslim countries are a “crime against humanity” and a violation of international law, a peace activist and analyst in Washington says.
“Drone strikes are, by their nature, an illegal weapon [because] there is no capability of distinguishing between civilians and armed combatants,” said Brian Becker, national coordinator for the ANSWER Coalition, a US-based protest umbrella group consisting of many antiwar and civil rights organizations.
“This program of unmanned aircraft targeting people thousands of feet below on the ground with the scantest evidence of who’s actually the target, means that large numbers of civilians will be killed and that those who commit these murders know that large numbers of civilians will be killed,” Becker told Press TV on Saturday.
“From the point of view of the ANSWER Coalition, we continue to join with other peace forces in the United States and throughout the world, demanding the end of all drone strikes in Afghanistan, in Pakistan and everywhere,” he added.
“They are, as I said, a crime against humanity and a violation of international law.”
Becker made the comments as a US drone attack targeted a funeral ceremony in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Khost on Friday, killing at least 34 people.
Afghan officials said 15 civilians were among the casualties.
Washington employs unmanned aerial vehicles in an alleged bid to target terrorists in Yemen, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia, and elsewhere. Local officials and witnesses, however, say that the drone strikes have mostly killed civilians over the past years.
Moreover, The United Nations and several human rights organizations have identified the US as the world’s number-one user of “targeted killings,” largely due to its drone attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Over 2,000 people have been killed in US drone strikes in Pakistan alone in the past decade, according to official figures from Islamabad.
In a wide-ranging speech in May 2013, US President Barack Obama defended the drone program. "So this is a just war, a war waged proportionally, in last resort, and in self-defense."
He also said there must be "near certainty" that no civilians would die in such strikes.
AHT/HRJ
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