First assassination of Briton by drone signals mission creep in Syria
Source: The Guardian
Killing of Reyaad Khan marks a significant departure for the UK, with ministers yet to rule out further targeted strikes
David Camerons admission that the UK has targeted and killed Reyaad Khan, a prominent member of Islamic State represents the first assassination of a British citizen by a UK military drone.
Another Briton was killed alongside him, Ruhul Amin, also an Isis member, who happened to be in vehicle with him. Cameron also confirmed that a third Briton had been targeted and killed in a separate drone strike by the US as part of a joint operation three days later. To put this in perspective to illustrate what a major departure this is look across the Atlantic at the long-running controversy about drones. The US has been in the forefront of the use of drones with Barack Obama employing even more of them than George W Bush. Americans have been killed, though the US insists these were inadvertent: people who were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Washington has only admitted to one targeted killing by a drone of an American citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki. The preacher, accused of working with al-Qaida, was hit in a strike by a Hellfire missile in Yemen in 2011. But now the UK has acknowledged that at least two British citizens were targeted for drone strikes.
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/07/reyaad-khan-first-assassination-british-citizen-drone
cosmicone
(11,014 posts)OnyxCollie
(9,958 posts)for assassination by the US two weeks later.
Just a coincidence. Funny how those things happen.
Mojorabbit
(16,020 posts)moondust
(20,042 posts)Demeter
(85,373 posts)any more than it does the US. Drones are a test of ethics, and both nation's administrations have EPIC FAIL written all over them.
Elmer S. E. Dump
(5,751 posts)I see nothing wrong with droning the bastards.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)If you don't want to get droned, don't join ISIS. If you join ISIS, you have only yourself to blame if you get droned.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)prominent political figures.
bananas
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