To the Editor:
Re “The Secret Death Toll of America’s Drones” (editorial, March 31):
Cloaked in the legal house of cards known as the “global war on terror,” every post-9/11 administration has understated that war’s civilian casualties, but not only in the ways highlighted in your editorial.
In addition to failing to account for people we did not mean to kill, but did, there are a substantial number of people whose deliberate targeting our government justifies through overly expansive notions of “war” and “combatant.”
Unintended death in war may or may not be legal. Application of law-of-war-based killing where it does not belong is always a crime that threatens the fabric of international peace and security. Congress’s job is to rein in all manner of executive overreach in the business of killing, not just the “collateral damage.”
Gabor Rona
New York
The writer, a visiting professor at Cardozo Law School, is director of its Law and Armed Conflict Project.
Source: Read Full Article
Home » Analysis & Comment » Opinion | How the U.S. Hides Casualties in War
Opinion | How the U.S. Hides Casualties in War
To the Editor:
Re “The Secret Death Toll of America’s Drones” (editorial, March 31):
Cloaked in the legal house of cards known as the “global war on terror,” every post-9/11 administration has understated that war’s civilian casualties, but not only in the ways highlighted in your editorial.
In addition to failing to account for people we did not mean to kill, but did, there are a substantial number of people whose deliberate targeting our government justifies through overly expansive notions of “war” and “combatant.”
Unintended death in war may or may not be legal. Application of law-of-war-based killing where it does not belong is always a crime that threatens the fabric of international peace and security. Congress’s job is to rein in all manner of executive overreach in the business of killing, not just the “collateral damage.”
Gabor Rona
New York
The writer, a visiting professor at Cardozo Law School, is director of its Law and Armed Conflict Project.
Source: Read Full Article