Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn) Addresses a rally protesting inequality. (photo: National People's Action/Flickr)
Representative
Keith Ellison Calls for More Oversight After Drone Papers Revelations
By Jenna McLaughlin, The
Intercept
25 October 15
The
co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus says that new details about
the Obama Administration’s secretive drone war call for heightened oversight.
“The
Pentagon documents obtained by The Intercept echo what the
Congressional Progressive Caucus has been saying for years. America’s drone
program needs transparency and oversight,” said Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., in
a statement e-mailed to the Intercept.
“Extrajudicial
killings via drones are highly inaccurate and result in significant civilian
casualties. The drone program breeds resentment and erodes our credibility with
international partners,” he said.
The package of stories published by The
Intercept showed, for instance, that despite U.S. claims about
accuracy, during one five-month period in northeastern Afghanistan, nearly 90
percent of the people killed in airstrikes were not the intended targets.
“Attempts
to hide civilian casualties by naming any person within the vicinity of an
airstrike an ‘enemy combatant’ is wrong,” Ellison said. “The report makes it
clear: the U.S. drone program operates on highly questionable legal ground and
offends our principles of justice.”
Ellison
has been a vocal critic of targeted killings for years, along with other
members of his progressive caucus.
Over
the summer, with CPC co-chair Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva, D- Ariz., Ellison tried and failed to attach
an amendment to the Intelligence Authorization Act that would have mandated
that the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community investigate civilian
deaths from drone strikes and report back.
“Congress
must exercise its oversight authority and demand more transparency in the U.S.
drone program,” the two lawmakers wrote in a statement following
the amendment’s rejection.
In
January 2013, Ellison authored an opinion
piece in the Washington Post titled “Time for Congress To
Build a Better Drone Policy”, pointing to the deaths of 35 Pakistanis whose
status as terrorists or civilians was unknown. He asked Congress to require the
courts to weigh in on the White House’s “kill list” in its drone program, and
take the conversation abroad to draw up a universal set of legal requirements
surrounding targeted killings.
Other
than Ellison’s call for more oversight, Congressional reaction to the newly
revealed flaws of the drone program has been muted.
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