The White House has strongly defended its drone policy in several countries, rejecting violations reported by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
“To the extent these reports claim that the US has acted contrary to international law, we would strongly disagree,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Tuesday.
“The administration has repeatedly emphasized the extraordinary care that we take to make sure counterterrorism actions are in accordance with all applicable law,” he added.
On Tuesday, a report by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said US officials could be found guilty of war crimes for the secret CIA drone attacks which have killed hundreds of civilians in countries like Yemen and Pakistan.
Amnesty International has detailed how civilians have been killed in drone strikes in Pakistan, highlighting the case of a grandmother who was killed as she was picking vegetables. Family members of the 68-year-old woman were injured in a second attack as they were trying to tend her.
The report has also detailed the strikes in Yemen, arguing that the United States has broken international human rights law in the African country.
The White House said it was “reviewing these reports carefully.”
“US counterterrorism operations are precise, they are lawful, and they are effective, and the United States does not take lethal strikes when we or our partners have the ability to capture individual terrorists,” Carney said.
“We take mindful of the absolute need to limit civilian casualties and to, in this case, reach a standard of near certainty that no civilians will be killed or injured, which is the highest standard we or any country could set,” he added.
Last week, the United Nations called on Washington to become transparent about the number of civilians killed by CIA drone attacks.
A UN expert report said the CIA’s involvement in drone attacks in Pakistan and Yemen “has created an almost insurmountable obstacle to transparency.”
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Source: Press TV