US President Barack Obama has defended the use of drones to kill suspected terrorists, but is imposing limits on their use in the future.
In a rare public debate about the country's secret drone program, Mr. Obama said targeting terrorists with unmanned aerial vehicles was a legal, effective and just military tactic.
“Plots that would have targeted international aviation, US mass transit systems and European cities have been foiled. Simply put, these strikes saved lives,” he said.
But Mr Obama revealed he had signed a new presidential policy directive “insisting on clear guidelines, oversight and accountability”.
The guidelines include requirements that a target must pose an ongoing “imminent” threat to Americans, and say lethal action can only be used if a suspect cannot be captured and there is a legal basis to act.
It also requires the “virtual certainty that non-combatants will not be injured or killed.”
The Obama administration also acknowledged that four Americans overseas had been killed in drone strikes since 2009 during counterterrorism operations in Yemen and Pakistan, including religious activist Anwar al-Awlaki.
Mr. Obama defended these operations, saying that when an American citizen goes abroad to wage war against the United States, his citizenship should not be used as a shield.
Obama launches new bid to close Guantanamo Bay
In a renewed push to close Guantanamo Bay, Mr. Obama said he would lift a personal moratorium on the transfer of detainees to volatile Yemen, and said he would appoint a new top envoy to oversee the transfers.
“Where appropriate, we will bring terrorists to justice in our courts and our military justice system,” he said.
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Mr. Obama said Guantanamo Bay was expensive and damaging to America's reputation.
He called on the Pentagon to designate a site on U.S. soil to host military tribunals for terrorism suspects, now at Guantanamo Bay, and said Congress must work with him to close a facility that has tarnished the United States' image abroad.
“I know politics is difficult, but history will pass harsh judgment on this aspect of our fight against terrorism, and on those of us who fail to end it,” Mr. Obama said.
“Imagine a future – 10 or 20 years from now – where the United States of America is still detaining people who have not been charged with any crime on land that is not part of our country.”
The new initiative to close Guantanamo is accompanied by a hunger strike by 103 of the remaining 166 detainees.
The president made closing the prison a top priority during his 2008 presidential campaign, but failed to achieve it in his first term.
ABC/son
