UN Lawyer Praises Obama's Comments on Drones

Calls it a "significant step towards increased transparency"

The lawyer leading a UN drone inquiry has praised a speech by US President Barack Obama as a "significant step towards increased transparency".

Ben Emmerson said Mr Obama had set out more clearly than ever before the legal justifications for targeted killing.

Pakistan, the main focus of the strikes, has reiterated its view that drones are "counter-productive".

Mr Obama pledged to continue strikes, but with tighter oversight of the programme and stricter targeting rules.

Comments

[HeDidDisToHim]

If we judged President Obama on speeches alone, we might actually have a somewhat decent president. We would have government transparency, fraudster bankers imprisoned, legislation hostile to civil liberties removed, troops withdrawn from overseas, no more wars, etc, etc, etc...

Can we get over the great speeches already and look at reality?