Congressman terms US drone attacks as "summary executions, extra-judicial killings"

Washington, August 19(ANI): US Congressman Dennis J Kucinich has strongly criticised the Obama administration for using predator drones as a tool of war in Pakistan and elsewhere, terming these strikes as "summary executions" and "extra-judicial killings".

"The Obama administration continues to use unmanned drones as a tool of war - a tool that according The New York Times, the Administration claims has killed 600 militants in Pakistan and no civilians since May 2010. But the math doesn't add up. Nor does the policy," Kucinich wrote in The Huffington Post.

"Think of the use of drone air strikes as summary executions, extra-judicial killings justified by faceless bureaucrats using who-knows-what "intelligence," with no oversight whatsoever and you get the idea that we have slipped into spooky new world where joystick gods manipulating robots deal death from the skies and then go home and hug their children," he added.

Noting that the Obama administration has authorised drone strikes in Yemen and Somalia as well, Kucinich stated that the increasing reliance on drones and the lack of recourse for the families of innocent civilians that are killed by such strikes "demonstrate the impunity with which the US uses this technology."

He warned that drone attacks undermine the US' moral standing in the world, and foment anger and resentment towards the country.

"We have spent years in Afghanistan and Iraq under the guise of nurturing democracy and the rule of law while at the same time, our use of unmanned drones severely undermines the rule of law," he argued.

Challenging the legality of drone strikes in Pakistan and calling to light their indiscriminate nature is vital to prevent a dangerous precedent from being set that would allow international law and the laws of war to be stretched to justify strikes elsewhere, Kucinich stressed.

"The legal justification for their use in Pakistan can and will be used to justify their use in other countries. Under this legal framework, the battlefield could be stretched to include anywhere in the world. Anywhere," he warned. (ANI)