Details Abound in Drone ‘Playbook’ — Except for the Ones That Really Matter Most | Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community

Details Abound in Drone ‘Playbook’ — Except for the Ones That Really Matter Most | Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community

 

Details Abound in Drone ‘Playbook’ — Except for the Ones That Really Matter Most

by

Brett Max Kaufman

 

In response to a court order in an ACLU lawsuit, the government late Friday evening (as is its wont) released five documents relating to its process for nominating terrorism suspects for kill or capture. Most notable was the "Presidential Policy Guidance," a document particularly central to the government’s targeted killing program.



The release is important and illuminating, especially considering the
backdrop of extreme secrecy surrounding the program since its
inception. Before a 2013 ACLU victory in
the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the government had claimed that it
could neither “confirm nor deny” that the program existed at all. But
surprisingly, and disappointingly, the Presidential Policy Guidance
(PPG) and other records released over the weekend do nothing to assuage
concerns about the government’s standards governing who it decides to
kill.



The dominant impression from reading the PPG is the extent to which
it signals that targeted killings outside war zones have become the new
normal for the United States. True, the PPG appears to be a remarkably
detailed document outlining the approval process for targeted killings
(and, notably, little-used capture operations) among various committees
of the National Security Council and, in some cases, involving the
president himself. But while the document has already been celebrated by
some for pulling back the curtain on its “extraordinarily detailed” process, the PPG’s emphasis on process has a dark side.

Most
critically, the PPG’s length and numbingly bureaucratic tone make clear
just how normalized the killing of terrorism suspects far from any
battlefield has become inside the executive branch. Under the
Constitution and international law, these kinds of strikes are supposed
to be — at best — exceptional and rare. The “playbook” belies that background, giving off the sense that these matters are business as usual.

 

Though
the governmnent's release of some key documents is welcome, too much
remains secret about this deadly and controversial program. (Photo: Owen
Cheverton/Wikimedia)