UN investigator calls for halt to drone killings

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

GENEVA: A UN investigator called on Wednesday for a halt to CIA-directed drone strikes on suspected al Qaeda and Taliban terrorists, warning that killings ordered far from the battlefield could lead to a “Playstation” mentality.

Philip Alston, UN special rapporteur on extra judicial executions, said missile strikes could be justified only when it was impossible to capture insurgents alive instead and only if they were carried out by regular US armed forces operating with proper oversight and respect for the rules of war.

The CIA’s use of unmanned Predator or Reaper drones in Afghanistan and Pakistan against al Qaeda and Taliban suspects had led to the death of “many hundreds”, including innocent civilians, he said in a 29-page report. “Intelligence agencies have no place in running programmes that kill people in other countries,” Alston said.

The US is believed to control the fleet of drones from CIA headquarters in Virginia, coordinating with civilian pilots near hidden airfields in Afghanistan and Pakistan who fly the drones remotely, according to Alston.

“Because operators are based thousands of miles away from the battlefield, and undertake operations entirely through computer screens and remote audio-feed, there is a risk of developing a ‘Playstation’ mentality to killing,” he said, referring to the popular Sony 6758.T video game console. reuters