CIA sued over targeted drone strikes

For killing three of US citizens overseas
without bringing them to trial, the Central
Intelligence Agency and the US Defense
Department are being sued by the
American Civil Liberties Union in the
latest episode involving its drone
program.
The ACLU filed a suit on Wednesday
against the CIA and the Pentagon over
the extrajudicial killings conducted last
year aimed at alleged affiliates of al-
Qaeda. Anwar al-Awlaki, his son
Abdulrahman al-Awlaki and Samir Khan
— all US citizens — were executed
during two separate drone strikes
conducted last year in the country of
Yemen.
The 2012 targeted kills have become
one of the more memorable moments of
America’s unmanned aerial vehicle
program, which has been reportedly tied
to the executions of hundreds of civilians
overseas during the last few years. The
2012 executions aimed at the alleged al-
Qaeda affiliated — and the United
States’ reluctance to reveal the details in
full — have only escalated contempt
against the drone strikes in the months
since.
In an article published by The New York
Times earlier this year, White House
officials alleged that US President
Barack Obama has direct knowledge of
the identifies of people listed on a so-
called “kill list” and can authorize the
Pentagon and CIA to conduct drone
strikes to execute them, American citizen
or not. The revelation has since become
a crucial talking point in an escalating
war against whistleblowers as the US
government attempts to get to the
bottom of its Defense Department leaks.
According to the suit, the US government
has deliberately carried out these
premeditated killings of suspected
terrorists since as early as 2001, with
statistics surging during the last few
years. “
“While some targeted killings have been
carried out in the context of the wars in
Afghanistan and Iraq, many have taken
place outside context of armed conflict,
in countries including Yemen, Somalia,
Pakistan, Sudan and the Philippines,”
the suit claims. “These killings rely on
vague legal standards, a closed
executive process and evidence never
presented to the courts.” The suit then
directly identified Obama administration
personnel for “authorizing and directing
the killing of three American citizens,”
the plaintiffs, which they allege violated
fundamental rights granted to American
citizens.
The ACLU claims that the killing of the
three plaintiffs violates federal law
since, during the time of the strikes, the
US was not engaged in a military
mission in Yemen. According to law,
using lethal force is prohibited unless
“at the time it is applied, lethal force is a
last resort to protect against a concrete,
specific, and imminent threat of death or
serious physical injury.”
“[T]he question is whether the
government is justified in killing without
charging them or trying them for
anything,” the ACLU says.