7/28/2023 0 Comments Reforming us drone strike policies![]() Back in 2010, a man named Faisal Shahzad tried and failed to bomb Times Square in New York City. Murphy in a tweet on the letter said the US "must do better," calling drone strikes that kill civilians "a moral failure and a national security liability."Īctivists and critics of US drone policy have long contended strikes that kill civilians essentially serve as a recruiting poster for terrorist groups. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, and Rep. ![]() strikes have instead killed thousands of civilians, including children."Įleven senators and 39 members of the House signed the letter, including prominent progressives like Sen. "At least 14,000 US airstrikes have been conducted by unmanned aircraft since 2002, killing as many as 2,200 civilians-including 450 children," the letter added.ĭemocrats said that the "inexcusable figures," which they noted could be a major undercount due to a lack of transparency from the US government, are a reflection of an "uncomfortable truth: in far too many cases, rather than achieving the policy goal of eliminating hostile combatants to preserve U.S. The letter lamented that successive presidents have "have claimed virtually unilateral power to use lethal force around the world and without congressional authorization, killing not only armed actors but also innocent civilians- even American citizens."Ĭiting figures from Airwars, the letter stated that as many as 48,000 civilians have been killed by US strikes in seven different countries over the past two decades since the global war on terror began. "We strongly urge your Administration to review and overhaul US counterterrorism policy to center human rights and the protection of civilians, align with US and international law, prioritize non-lethal tools to address conflict and fragility, and only use force when it is lawful and as a last resort." "We cannot accept a continuation of the status quo that has repeatedly resulted in the needless deaths of innocent civilians," the letter went on to say.
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