03-27-2010, 11:57 AM
WASHINGTON: The US government for the first time has offered a legal justification of its drone strikes against al Qaeda and Taliban militants, citing the right to “self-defence” under international law. State Department legal adviser Harold Koh laid out the legal argument for the strikes in a speech on Thursday, referring to “targeting” of al Qaeda and Taliban without mentioning Pakistan or where the raids are carried out. Koh said the US was in “an armed conflict” with al Qaeda, the Taliban and its affiliates as a result of the September 11 attacks “and may use force consistent with its inherent right to self-defence under international law”. “With respect to the subject of targeting, which has been much commented upon in the media and international legal circles, there are obviously limits to what I can say publicly,” he said. “What I can say is that it is the considered view of this administration – and it has certainly been my experience during my time as legal adviser – that US targeting practices, including lethal operations conducted with the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, comply with all applicable law, including the laws of war.” Koh, a fierce critic of former US president George Bush’s policies in the fight against al Qaeda before he took his post, said, “In all of our operations involving the use of force” the administration was “committed by word and deed to conducting ourselves in accordance with all applicable law”. afp