USA must be held to account for drone killings in Pakistan

[cqo_000]

New evidence indicates that the USA has carried out unlawful killings in Pakistan through drone attacks, some of which could even amount to war crimes, Amnesty International said in a major new report released today.

The report was released in a joint news conference with Human Rights Watch, which issued its own report on drone and other air strikes in Yemen.

Amnesty International reviewed all 45 known drone strikes that took place in North Waziristan in northwestern Pakistan between January 2012 and August 2013. The region that has seen more strikes than any other part of the country.

The organization conducted detailed field research into nine of these strikes, with the report documenting killings, which raise serious questions about violations of international law that could amount to war crimes or extrajudicial executions.

Contrary to official claims that those killed were “terrorists”, Amnesty International’s research indicates that the victims of these attacks were not involved in fighting and posed no threat to life.

Amnesty International also documented cases of so-called “rescuer attacks” in which those who ran to the aid of the victims of an initial drone strike were themselves targeted in a rapid follow-on attack. While there may have been a presumption that the rescuers were members of the group being targeted, it is difficult to see how such distinctions could be made in the immediate and chaotic aftermath of a missile strike.

“The tragedy is that drone aircraft deployed by the USA over Pakistan now instill the same kind of fear in the people of the tribal areas that was once associated only with al-Qa’ida and the Taliban,”

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are jointly calling on the US Congress to fully investigate the cases the two organizations have documented and other potentially unlawful deaths, and to disclose any evidence of human rights violations to the public.

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/usa-must-be-held-account-drone-killings-pakistan-2013-10-22

[legcramp]

1. Oh please, Obama has already rewarded Jeh Johnson, who lead the legal review of the U.S. Drone

program with a promotion to the head of Homeland Security and the world has recognized the President with a Nobel Peace Prize and you're going to worry about Amnesty International?

Just who's side are you on anyway?

President Obama knows damn well what he's doing, and you should be thankful.

[cqo_000]

2. It's better not to take sides, as none of us knows the whole story. n/t

[DontTreadOnMe]

3. USA or Pakistan... hmmm -- I think I believe USA

"The region that has seen more strikes than any other part of the country." -- yeah, that's where the bad guy are!

[gopiscrap]

4. I fully agree

sad part is, we never will be though.

[Bill USA]

5. Al-Qaida Kills Eight Times More Muslims Than Non-Muslims - should amnesty intl consider how many

.. muslim lives we are saving with each terrorist we take out? Oh, maybe I shouldn't ask that?


http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/surprising-study-on-terrorism-al-qaida-kills-eight-times-more-muslims-than-non-muslims-a-660619.html

In the battle against unbelievers, can one also kill Muslims? Even the terror network al-Qaida is troubled by this question.

A leading al-Qaida ideologue for the terror network, Abu Yahya al-Libi, has developed his own theologically-based theory of collateral damage that allows militants to kill Muslims when it is unavoidable.

Even the Iraqi affiliates of Osama bin Laden's terror group, who are known to be particularly bloodthirsty, claim that they too consider this question. For instance, in a message claiming responsibility for an August attack in Baghdad, the group wished those Sunnis injured in the "operation" a speedy recovery and expressed their hope that those killed would be accepted by God as "martyrs."

But even as such apologetic communiqués from al-Qaida show the terror network stylizing itself as a defender of the true faith wrestling with religious concepts, they also make it look as though any dead Muslims are regretful but isolated cases. The facts, though, tell a different story.
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