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| India-Pakistan | ||
| US should exercise caution with drone attacks: UN envoy | ||
| 2009-06-04 | ||
| [Geo News] The United States should be more forthright about how many civilians die in its overseas wars, and exercise more caution with unmanned drone attacks, a United Nations human rights envoy said on Wednesday. Philip Alston, U.N. special
He recommended that Washington make public the status of all investigations into civilian deaths in its armed conflicts. The Australian law professor said that U.S. soldiers, Pentagon officials, intelligence agents and private contractors are not being held to account for unlawful killings they commit. "The government has failed to effectively investigate and punish lower-ranking soldiers for such deaths, and has not held senior officers responsible under the doctrine of command responsibility," he told the 47 member-state forum in Geneva. "Worse, it has effectively created a zone of impunity for private contractors and civilian intelligence agents by only rarely investigating and prosecuting them." Alston visited the United States last year, before Barack Obama became president.
On Wednesday, he expressed "strong concern at the continuing problem of preventable civilian casualties, especially in the context of aerial bombing," in Afghanistan and called for "real accountability based on credible independent investigations." "Targeted killings carried out by drone attacks on the territory of other states are increasingly common and remain deeply troubling," Alston said. "The U.S. government should disclose the legal basis for such killings and identify any safeguards designed to reduce collateral civilian casualties and ensure that the government has targeted the correct person." Pakistani officials have complained about the drone attacks, calling them a violation of sovereignty and increase resentment towards both Pakistan's government and the United States. | ||
| Posted by:Fred |
| #7 Bomb the UNHRC |
| Posted by: mojo 2009-06-04 15:17 |
| #6 So if these folks were around about 70 years ago, would we be speaking German or Japanese now? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2009-06-04 10:29 |
| #5 I wish they would let me meet with the UN envoy on this one. IS Bolton still at the UN? He just looks like he would beat the hell out of someone |
| Posted by: funky skunk 2009-06-04 10:10 |
| #4 The Australian law professor said that U.S. soldiers, Pentagon officials, intelligence agents and private contractors are not being held to account for unlawful killings they commit. Probably because they are not responsible for the "unlawful killings". The ones who are responsible are the ones hiding behind civilians and using them as human shields. But then he already knows that. Just trying to score points with his Human Rights [abusers] Council. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2009-06-04 08:35 |
| #3 The United States should be more forthright about how many civilians die in its overseas wars... Define the word civillian, Mr.'rapporteur'. If you say it includes a Taliban members wife and kids you are wrong. |
| Posted by: Parabellum 2009-06-04 08:20 |
| #2 if the drone strikes are causing this much whining from the Usual Suspects Whining is that they do. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-06-04 04:59 |
| #1 I know some Rantburgers would prefer an old-fashioned carpet bombing, but if the drone strikes are causing this much whining from the Usual Suspects, they must be working. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2009-06-04 01:46 |