Human rights activists at odds with President Obama over his recent national security decisions are indicating that they might legally challenge the U.S. military's use of Predator drones, a weapon that intelligence officials say is their single most effective tool in combating Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan.Predator spy planes are unmanned aerial vehicles that are virtually invisible when flying overhead. The Air Force uses them frequently in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where they are able to track and hit targets from the air when mountainous terrain makes it notoriously hard to send troops.
"That's the spooky thing about the Predator," national security and terrorism expert Neil Livingstone said. "Even if the Predator is directly overhead and you know it's overheard, you still can't see it or hear it. This is kind of like death out of the blue."
Human rights activists are turning their attention to the drone program in part because they say there's no warning to innocent civilians who are in a targeted area.
Gabor Rona, international legal director of Human Rights First, a U.S.-based group that advocates universal rights and freedom, said large number of civilians are being unintentionally hit, harmed and killed.
"This is not only a violation of the international laws of war," he said. "It's bad policy."
| Who says that 'large numbers of civilians' are being hit? Who's making that call? HRW? Our military has traditionally gone out of its way to avoid civilian casualties. |
It's undeniable that more civilians have been killed than actual Al Qaeda terrorists in the 16 Predator strikes this year. But there's little chance that could change.
"So many of these guys surround themselves with collateral casualties," Livingstone said, and large numbers of women and children are strategically placed around hotbeds of activity.
| So, Mr. HRW guy, who's responsible for that? If an al-Qaeda perp hides behind a bunch of skirts, isn't he the one responsible for any civilian deaths? And if not, haven't you just granted him a free pass and the power he craves? |
| Which is why they hide like that. Our response has to be to whack them anyway and make clear to the civilian population that they need to stay clear of the perps. |
"Our military fighting in Afghanistan has got to be able to pursue high level (operatives) who flee across the border from Afghanistan into Pakistan," said Matt Bennett, a national security expert for a Washington-based think tank.
On the presidential campaign trail, Obama had said that if there was legitimate intelligence about high-level Al Qaeda personnel he would not hesitate to act. And although there's no formal agreement between the U.S. and Pakistan when it comes to Predator drone attacks, Pakistan more or less looks the other way.
Even so, human rights advocates continue to grow more disillusioned by the president's decisions on the Guantanamo military commissions and his refusal to release photos of alleged detainee abuse by U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as other national security issues. The Predator program, which is a holdover from the Bush administration, could be the next legal battle.
| Let's disillusion HRW some more, then ... |
| Even though the progressive Left once thought of Afghanistan as the 'good' war ... |