FILE - In this Jan. 31, 2010 file photo, an unmanned U.S. Predator drone flies over Kandahar Air Field, southern Afghanistan, on a moon-lit night. A U.N. expert on Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013 launched a special investigation into drone warfare and targeted killings, which the United States relies on as a front-line weapon in its global war against al-Qaida. The civilian killings and injuries that result from drone strikes on suspected terrorist cells will be part of the focus of the probe by British lawyer Ben Emmerson, the U.N. rapporteur on Counter-Terrorism and Human Rights. His office announced the investigation in London. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)
UN expert investigates US drone killings
FILE - In this Jan. 31, 2010 file photo, an unmanned U.S. Predator drone flies over Kandahar Air Field, southern Afghanistan, on a moon-lit night. A U.N. expert on Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013 launched a special investigation into drone warfare and targeted killings, which the United States relies on as a front-line weapon in its global war against al-Qaida. The civilian killings and injuries that result from drone strikes on suspected terrorist cells will be part of the focus of the probe by British lawyer Ben Emmerson, the U.N. rapporteur on Counter-Terrorism and Human Rights. His office announced the investigation in London. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)
By PETER JAMES SPIELMANN
Associated Press /
January 24, 2013
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‘‘The CIA’s internal control mechanisms, including its Inspector-General, have had no discernible impact; executive control mechanisms have either not been activated at all or have ignored the issue; congressional oversight has given a ‘free pass’ to the CIA in this area; judicial review has been effectively precluded; and external oversight has been reduced to media coverage which is all too often dependent on information leaked by the CIA itself,’’ he wrote. ‘‘As a result, there is no meaningful domestic accountability for a burgeoning program of international killing.’’
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