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| India-Pakistan | |
| US plans manned 'drones' to avoid legal ramifications | |
| 2010-06-08 | |
| [Dawn] The United States is increasingly relying on a new, manned spy plane to deal with possible legal ramifications of the indiscriminate use of unmanned drones in the war against militants, the US media reported on Sunday. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't a "manned drone" known as an "airplane"? The media also claimed that US officials were citing Pakistan's tacit approval of the drone attacks to justify their decision to continue the air strikes that have killed hundreds of people in the last two years. The need to justify the attacks followed a UN report last week which warned that using drones had serious legal problems as international laws do not approve such actions.
The most interesting comments came on Saturday from US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates who apparently tried to protect the American military and intelligence agencies from possible legal repercussions. "CIA and the US military are fully accountable to Congress in all their operations," said Mr Gates when asked to comment on the UN report. "I have no doubt whatsoever that the intelligence committees in the US Congress are fully informed of the activities the CIA is carrying out," he told journalists in Singapore. Diplomatic observers in Washington say that Congress's involvement can provide a legal cover to the controversial air strikes, at least in US courts. Meanwhile, the Pentagon's technical response to this legal problem is the introduction of a manned aircraft known as the MC-12 Liberty. It is a four-person, twin-engine propeller plane based on a civilian aircraft used around the world. Drones are operated by the CIA and critics say that intelligence agencies do not observe the legal code that apply to uniformed soldiers. The new plane is operated by US Air Force personnel who follow a legal code, which includes international obligations observed during an armed conflict. The Pentagon claims that the intelligence gathered by MC-12 crews has led to the capturing of 60 terrorists and criminals in Iraq and the killing or capturing 20 insurgents in Afghanistan, including four commanders. The MC-12 aircraft also helped locate hundreds of roadside bombs around Marjah in advance of a Marine-led offensive there in March. The first aircraft arrived in Afghanistan last December. The US Air Force plans to spend $100 million to train airmen on using the aircraft's spy technology over the next two years. Yet, all indications are that the unmanned drones will remain the weapon of choice, at least for the CIA, in the foreseeable future. And two CIA officials, Paul Gimigliano and George Little, when asked to comment on the UN report, defended their agency's action. "Without discussing or confirming any specific action or programme, this agency's operations unfold within a framework of law and close government oversight," they said. "The accountability's real, and it would be wrong for anyone to suggest otherwise." The White House spokesman declined to comment on the UN report, but pointed to a recent speech by the State Department legal adviser, Harold Koh, that partly outlined the Obama administration's legal rationale. Mr Koh has invoked America's "armed conflict with Al-Qaeda, the Taliban and associated forces" as a justification for taking out individual fighters and leaders. Mr Alston made a measured and reasoned legal attack on the general use of targeted killings by governments against non-state actors, but he specifically criticised the American drone campaign, expressing doubt that the US could claim to be in an armed conflict with Al Qaeda and concluding that, "Outside the context of armed conflict, the use of drones for targeted killing is almost never likely to be legal." | |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #8 Anyone else wish the international busybodies would spend as much time condemning terrorism and jihad as it does fretting about what's done in defense against them? |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2010-06-08 14:18 |
| #7 I believe existing "international law" allows "whatever you can get away with"... |
| Posted by: mojo 2010-06-08 11:27 |
| #6 the UN push against the use of drones is simply part of the greater Jihad with the soft euros and the neutral countries being used as the useful idiots interestingly, because Obama is now President, the justification of our active defense is more likely to be effective in the UN ha ha |
| Posted by: lord garth 2010-06-08 08:35 |
| #5 The UN's problem with the drones is that they are apparently effective. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2010-06-08 08:23 |
| #4 Article misses the point that most of the "manned drones" are RC-12s, no weapons. The RC-12/MC-12 is provided with "exportable sensors" to countries such as Iraq to which we don't want to export MQ-1Bs or MQ-9s. The aircraft made by the old E-Systems guys are a quick and clever way to provide persistent reconnaissance capability to second-tier allies. |
| Posted by: rwv 2010-06-08 07:44 |
| #3 Manned drone. Only a journalist could invent such idiocy. |
| Posted by: gromky 2010-06-08 04:31 |
| #2 The UN's problem isn't with drones, it's with lack of accountability of CIA operatives manning the drones, or so they claim. Link |
| Posted by: phil_b 2010-06-08 01:19 |
| #1 Blowing hot air. The MC-12 is being used because of availability problems with the drones plus they carry more complex sensor systems. Someone is taking unrelated events and connecting them with fantasy. |
| Posted by: tipover 2010-06-08 00:37 |