The temporary halt was widely believed to be an attempt by the US to prevent an irreparable break in an already fragile relationship after a US attack killed two dozen Pakistani soldiers on border posts along the Pak-Afghan border. Amid Pakistani fury after the mid-November strike, the US heeded a Pakistani call to vacate the Shamsi air base in southwestern Pakistan that was used for staging drone strikes. Drone attacks on Pakistan are now launched from bases in Afghanistan.
Three US citizens
Aside from Pakistan, there is also debate over the use of drones in Yemen, Somalia and Libya. The Sunday Times report says that three US citizens were also killed by missiles fired from drones in Yemen last September.
Anwar al Awlaqi, an alleged al Qaeda operative, was deliberately targeted in what some have described as the US government's first ever execution of one of its own citizens without trial. His colleague and fellow citizen Samir Khan also died in the attack. Two weeks later Awlaqi's 16 year old son Abdulrahman died in another drone strike.
The ACLU filed a lawsuit on February 1st demanding the Obama administration to release legal and intelligence records on the killing of the three US citizens in Yemen. The ACLU complaint referred to wide media coverage of the administration's 2010 decision to place Anwar al-Awlaki , on "kill lists" compiled by the CIA and the military's Joint Special Operations Command.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, charged the Justice and Defense departments and the CIA with illegally failing to respond to requests made in October under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). It cited public comments made by President Obama, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and other officials in arguing that the government cannot credibly claim a secrecy defense.
In addition to statements by Obama and Panetta, the lawsuit notes that "media reports about the targeted killing program routinely quote anonymous government officials describing details of the program."
At the time, public statements by Obama confirmed the elder Awlaki's death. Washington Post reported that the operation had been carried out after the administration requested and received an opinion from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel saying that targeting and killing U.S. citizens overseas was legal under domestic and international law.
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