For the first time the US government has offered a legal justification for drone strikes against alleged al-Qaeda and Taliban militants, citing the right to “self-defense” under international law.
Attacks by unmanned aircraft in Pakistan, Somalia and elsewhere have surged under US President Barack Obama’s administration, but remain shrouded in secrecy, with some human rights groups charging that the bombing raids amount to illegal assassinations.
US State Department legal adviser Harold Koh laid out the legal argument for the strikes in a speech on Thursday, referring to the “targeting” of al-Qaeda and Taliban figures without mentioning Pakistan or where the raids are carried out.
The US was in “an armed conflict” with al-Qaeda, the Taliban and its affiliates as a result of the Sept. 11 attacks, Koh said, “and may use force consistent with its inherent right to self-defense under international law.”
“With respect to the subject of targeting, which has been much commented upon in the media and international legal circles, there are obviously limits to what I can say publicly,” he said.
“What I can say is that it is the considered view of this administration — and it has certainly been my experience during my time as a legal adviser — that US targeting practices, including lethal operations conducted with the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, comply with all applicable law, including the laws of war.”
Koh, a fierce critic of former US president George W. Bush’s policies in the fight against al-Qaeda before he took up his post, delivered the speech at a conference of the American Society of International Law.
“In all of our operations involving the use of force” the administration was “committed by word and deed to conducting ourselves in accordance with all applicable law,” he said
He also said the government was careful to limit attacks to only “legitimate” military objectives and to ensure they adhered to the principle of “proportionality,” keeping civilian casualties to a minimum.
Civilian deaths and injury from drone attacks in Pakistan have triggered popular anger and fed anti-US sentiment.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which recently filed a lawsuit demanding that the government disclose its legal rationale and other details of drone operations, welcomed the move.
“We’re encouraged that Koh has articulated the legal rationale for the program,” said Jonathan Manes, a legal fellow at the ACLU.
However, he said he hoped the administration would provide a more detailed account of its legal justification. The ACLU, under freedom of information laws, has asked the government to reveal when, where and against whom drone strikes can be authorized, and an estimate of how many civilians have been killed in the raids to date.
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