US President Barack Obama plans to justify assassination drone strikes as ‘necessary, legal and just’ in a major speech on Thursday, May 23, 2013.
US President Barack Obama plans to firmly defend the use of terror drones and targeted killing policy as Å“legal and just” and announce a new bid to transfer long-held Guantanamo captives back to their native lands.
In a much anticipated speech later on Thursday at a military college in Washington DC, Obama will further discuss plans to Å“restrict” the use of assassination drones and shifting their control from the CIA spy agency to the US military, The New York Times reports Thursday, citing Ëœa White House officialâ„¢ with knowledge about his upcoming speech.
Å“[He] will discuss why the use of [assassination] drone strikes is necessary, legal and just, while addressing the various issues raised by our use of targeted [killing] action,” the official was quoted in the report as saying.
While Obama will try to Å“reject” the notion of an endless US war with Å“terrorists,” the report says, he does not appear to think the end is anywhere near since Å“he is also institutionalizing procedures for [terror] drone strikes.”
This is while a top Pentagon official testified before a US congressional panel last week that the American so-called Å“war on terror” will likely continue for the next Å“10 to 20 years.”
The development comes as US Attorney General Eric Holder admitted for the first time on Wednesday that four American citizens were killed by US assassination drone strikes, defending the move as consistent with American law.
Critics of the secret policy, which has widely been condemned as a violation of international law, were not convinced.
Å“The Obama administration continues to claim authority to kill virtually anyone anywhere in the world under the Ëœglobal battlefieldâ„¢ legal theory and a radical redefinition of the concept of imminence,” said Amnesty Internationalâ„¢s Zeke Johnson as quoted in the report.
Å“President Obama should reject these concepts in his speech tomorrow and commit to upholding human rights, not just in word but in deed,” Johnson added.
According to the report, Obama will also use his Thursday speech to renew efforts Å“to close the [military] prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba” with a fresh push Å“to transfer detainees to home countries and lift the ban on sending some back to Yemen.”
The daily further notes that Obama will Å“reappoint a high-level State Department official to oversee the effort to reduce the prison population.”
Nearly 130 of the 166 captives held at the notorious Guantanamo detention and torture facility are currently on hunger strike, protesting abusive treatment by prison guards and their indefinite detention without charges or legal trials.
Most of the Guantanamo inmates have been picked up by American military forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan in the aftermath of the US-led occupation of Afghanistan under the pretext of removing the Saudi- and Pakistani-backed Taliban regime and bringing stability to the country.
MFB/MFB
This article originally appeared on : Press TV