Wednesday
Apr282010
CIA Drone Use Unlawful, Charges Expert
Wednesday, April 28, 2010 at 4:11PM
By Benny Martinez - University of New Mexico / Talk Radio News Service
It is a clear violation of international law to use combat drones against adversaries that are not in official war zones, said Mary Ellen O’Connell, a law professor from Notre Dame who spoke Wednesday before a House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee.
“We just don’t have the right to bomb people where there’s no armed conflict,” said O’Connell.
However, O'Connell, said that there are circumstances where the utilization of combat drones would be justified. According to O’Connell, under international law, self-defense warrants the use of tools like combat drones. Still, O'Connell contends that this standard does not apply to civilian agencies like the CIA.
CIA agents based in Djibouti, Africa used drones to fire laser-guided Hellfire missiles at a passenger vehicle in a thinly populated area in Yemen. The United States Air Force controlled the drones at the time and raised questions about the legality of attacking a place where no armed conflict was present. CIA agents then took it upon themselves.
“Under International Law of Armed Conflict, the CIA does not have the right to carry out battlefield killings,” O’Connell said.
The CIA is not an agency integrated with the armed forces of the United States and thus it is not required to follow the military’s chain of command. O’Connell said these “characteristics are failures [and] deficits, they simply have no right.”
“Everyone knows that...there’s something wrong [with] the drone attacks in places like Yemen,” O’Connell said. “We are not sending the signal that we want to see all countries suppressing violence and promoting the rule of law.”
It is a clear violation of international law to use combat drones against adversaries that are not in official war zones, said Mary Ellen O’Connell, a law professor from Notre Dame who spoke Wednesday before a House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee.
“We just don’t have the right to bomb people where there’s no armed conflict,” said O’Connell.
However, O'Connell, said that there are circumstances where the utilization of combat drones would be justified. According to O’Connell, under international law, self-defense warrants the use of tools like combat drones. Still, O'Connell contends that this standard does not apply to civilian agencies like the CIA.
CIA agents based in Djibouti, Africa used drones to fire laser-guided Hellfire missiles at a passenger vehicle in a thinly populated area in Yemen. The United States Air Force controlled the drones at the time and raised questions about the legality of attacking a place where no armed conflict was present. CIA agents then took it upon themselves.
“Under International Law of Armed Conflict, the CIA does not have the right to carry out battlefield killings,” O’Connell said.
The CIA is not an agency integrated with the armed forces of the United States and thus it is not required to follow the military’s chain of command. O’Connell said these “characteristics are failures [and] deficits, they simply have no right.”
“Everyone knows that...there’s something wrong [with] the drone attacks in places like Yemen,” O’Connell said. “We are not sending the signal that we want to see all countries suppressing violence and promoting the rule of law.”
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