UN Report: US Should End CIA Drone Attacks

Rapporteur Warns Attacks Set a 'Bad Example'

The United Nations has issued a new report by special rapporteur Philip Alston today, advising that the CIA should transfer control over its drone attacks to the military and end its policy of launching attacks itself.

The report noted that there is considerable transparency over the assorted military killings in Afghanistan whereas the CIA “by definition” refuses to answer questions and has no accountability.

Alston warned in particular that the drone strikes, which have killed hundreds of civilians, set a bad example and that there need to be clearer rules as more nations acquire drone capabilities, adding that the current strikes amount to extra-judicial executions.

He warned that the example the US was setting could lead to a situation where dozens of countries are engaging in “competing drone attacks” outside their borders against people “labeled as terrorists by one group or another.”

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.