Search: drones
23 Oct Guest Post at Just Security About “Belonging to” and Associated Forces
...Qaeda. Jordan p.s. does any al Qaeda "affiliate" "belong to" a Party to an international armed conflict? Does al Qaeda "belong to" a state? Has al Qaeda ever complied with the rest of Article 4(A)(2) of GPW (e.g., "being commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates," "carrying arms openly," "conducting their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war")? Jordan RELATED: new op ed at Jurist re: why Amnesty International's new Report on Drone Targetings used the wrong legal standards, see http://jurist.org/forum/2013/10/jordan-paust-drones-justifications.php enjoy! Jordan sorry, try: http://jurist.org/forum/2013/10/jordan-paust-drones-justification.php...10 Jun Guest Post: Pakistan’s official withdrawal of consent for drone strikes
...unable doctrine - that is, why could it not claim that it's not yet a settled part of international law and therefore does not justify drone strikes against its citizens/property in any event? This argument would certainly put the U.S. in a difficult position and one which the Pakistani government could credibly make. Based on this argument, it could arguably even shoot down a U.S. drone as a measure of legal self-defense, as I have written in FP. http://afpak.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/05/08/can_pakistan_legally_shoot_down_us_drones - would you say Pakistan would be behaving illegally here? To...09 Apr Why the President’s Targeted Killings are Illegal (According to Professor O’Connell)
Jordan Response... Yet, my draft article addresses some of her claims and demonstrates why some of Mary Ellen's claims are not based in general patterns of practice and patterns of generally shared legal expectation about such practice, and so forth. There are some points of agreement as well, esp. re: who should be flying the drones. Please see http://ssrn.com/abstract=1520717 JJ Paust Howard Gilbert There is no rule about "battlefields". No such rule has ever existed or been imagined in any previous war. When Pettigrew's North Carolinians went looking for shoes...07 Apr NYU Petitioners Do Harold Koh — and Themselves — a Grave Disservice
...his omissions in their law review articles – check on Westlaw. Brian Chang I agree with KJH that the NYU petition is disappointing, especially in light of Harold Koh's record in government, an extensive evaluation of which is available here: http://justsecurity.org/21912/harold-koh-nyu-asil-2010-speech-advancing-human-rights/ On the issue of drones in particular, Harold was not just instrumental in advocating for the drones programme to be compliant with international law as he saw it, but also played a key role in ensuring that the legal basis of the programme was publicly articulated, so that it...01 Oct The Folly of Comparing Al-Awlaki to Admiral Yamamoto (Updated)
...won't take 500 words. Drones will not come to the US. So many commentators conceive of drones as this unstoppable fantasy weapon that can "rain death from above". Factually, any nation with an even moderately capable air defense network will not have to worry about drones. They can be detected and once detected easily defeated. They require a constant telemetry link with their controllers, a link that is easily jammed, interrupted or even intercepted. So if you want to imagine killing Jack Goldsmith I'm afraid you will have to do...31 May The Very Mild Fallout from the NYT Expose on US Drone Strikes
drone targetings have become far more accurate with less incidental loss of civilian life than with more conventional and otherwise lawful methods and means. http://ssrn.com/abstract=1520717 Mary Ellen's important points for the future include: (1) who should be flying the drones (U.S. military or CIA personnel)?, and (2) in the future, should we regulate fully automated drones (that engage in targetings without "a human in the loop"). p.s. the President does not need special congressional approval to engage in lawful measues of self-defense under U.N. art. 51 -- see, e.g., http://ssrn.com/abstract=2061835...16 Jan Is Killing Iranian Nuclear Scientists Terrorism?
...It makes some sense that a treaty on terrorism would consider the two seperately, even if in many cases the outcome in terms of who gets bombed or shot might be the same in practice (though not always). There's a number of reasons the CIA is a civilian agency (and should remain so, IMO). The militarization of the CIA lately (running the drones, having a serving General as agency head) is quite alarming, really. CG So, would it be terrorism for a foreign intelligence service to plant a bomb on...10 Aug Predators Over Pakistan
...repeated time and again that Pakistani forces can handle drones themselves and USA must shift drones to Pakistan. Moreover its injustice to say that 3 months ago Pakistan and specially Islamabad was going in hands of Taliban and US was terming Pakistani government incapable 3 months ago. Its all propaganda .Pakistani civilian PPP government led by Zardari is ever strong having full support of Pak army and its allies in provinces , there was insurgency to some extent in swat three months ago and PPP government , not on orders...01 Jul Weekly News Wrap: Tuesday, July 1, 2014
...apart after an onslaught by Sunni Islamists who have declared a “caliphate” to rule over all the world’s Muslims. Americas The US has armed drones flying over Baghdad to protect US troops that have recently arrived to assess Iraq’s deteriorating security, the Pentagon said on Friday. The White House says the US will no longer produce or acquire anti-personnel landmines in the future and intends to join the Ottawa Convention that bans their use. BNP Paribas has pleaded guilty to two criminal charges and agreed to pay $8.83 billion in...28 Jun That Syria War Power Debate, Continued
Cross-posted at Balkinization If, as I argued earlier this week, the 2001 AUMF passed by Congress cannot be read to authorize the growing set of U.S. military actions against Syrian and Iranian forces in Syria, does the President’s Article II power standing alone support these strikes? The best articulated argument I’ve seen that the President has the Article II power to attack Syrian aircraft (or Iranian drones or any non-ISIS force in Syria) in the interest of defending U.S.-allied Syrian government rebels goes something like this. The President surely has...