Here Comes The U.S. Drone 'Kill Courts'

U.S. President Barack Obama delivers remarks at the White House in Washington November 28, 2012. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Obama Drone Oversight Proposal Prompts Concern Over 'Kill Courts' -- The Guardian

Human rights groups wary after president asks Congress to establish special court or board to authorize legal drone action

Proposals to vet future US drone strikes risk creating "kill courts" according to human rights campaigners who say Barack Obama's promise of new legal oversight does not go far enough to end what they regard as extrajudicial executions.

The president has asked Congress to consider establishing a special court or oversight board to authorise lethal action outside warzones under a new counter-terrorism doctrine which he says will end the "boundless war on terror".

But responses to his speech from leading campaign groups, though broadly welcoming, highlight how little change Obama is proposing to the underlying principle that the US has a legal right to kill suspected terrorists abroad without trial.

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My Comment: How times have changed. When I was growing up the practice of U.S. targeted assassinations was repulsive to many on the American left .... today .... it is accepted as policy with little debate and little opposition.

Update: Would a US 'drone court' to authorize drone strikes be a good idea? -- Anna Mulrine, Christian Science Monitor