The international community has failed to hold the United States accountable for its illegal use of assassination drones which are killing innocent people, an analyst says.
Å“The international community is simply reticent and does not have the will to call an illegal act illegal,” Professor Liaghat Ali Khan, with Washburn University, told Press TV in an interview.
Å“I think the reason is very simple – the United States is a powerful country and it has a veto in the [UN] Security Council. Economically, it is a hegemon so no country has the guts – maybe perhaps Iran – but no country has the guts to say to the United States that what you are doing is illegal,” the analyst added.
Washington uses assassination drones in several countries including Pakistan, Yemen, and Afghanistan among others, claiming that they target terrorists.
However, witnesses say the attacks have mostly led to massive civilian casualties.
Å“The reality is that very few killers are being killed and mostly these are Pashtun children, Pashtun women and Pashtun men who have nothing to do with the war on terror,” Khan stated referring to drone strikes carried out in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
International human rights bodies as well as the United Nations have condemned US assassination drone strikes, saying they flout the international law.
Å“It seems like there is no case made against the people who are being killed and everything is shrouded in mystery, and the law simply does not tolerate when killings are made in complete secrecy because then we do not know what the facts are. We do not know what crimes the people committed for which they are being executed,” Khan said.
US officials have repeatedly refused to publicly discuss any details of the covert program, and the death toll from drone strikes remains a mystery.
Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama is poised to further discuss the use of terror drones and targeted killing policy as Å“legal and just” during a speech at a military college in Washington DC on Thursday.
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 the American law.
GMA/KA
This article originally appeared on : Press TV