HRW and AI Report on Drone Strikes

You may have read about one of the other today but two major orgs released their first reports today  "targeted killing" in Pakistan and Yemen, so here's a valuable  Just Security summary of both.   No surprise, they reveal civilian deaths beyond what is admitted by U.S., and "unlawful" use of drones (though they can also aid "compliance").    For starters:

HRW concluded that two of the strikes violated international law (pp. 54, 67), four may have (pp. 30, 39, 43, 60), and none of the six appeared to have complied with Obama’s May 2013 Presidential Policy Guidance (p. 89).  AI reviewed all 45 reported Pakistan strikes between January 2012-August 2013, and investigated nine in detail.  AI’s legal findings include that “evidence indicates” that an October 2012 strike unlawfully killed a grandmother and injured eight children (p. 23), and AI had “serious concerns” that a July 2012 strike that killed 18 and injured 22 (p. 24) may have been a war crime or extrajudicial execution (p. 27).  AI also investigated a number of strikes on apparent rescuers (those who came to the scene of a first strike to help the wounded), which it concluded may have been illegal (pp. 28-30).  Neither report seeks to assess the total number or rate of civilian casualties for all strikes. 

Here's today's NYT story on the AI report and how the strikes have terrorized village.  New song by Simeon Peebler, "Don't Cross That Red Line."