Killing your citizens with drones lawful: US to Pak

‘The US counter-terrorism operations are precise, they are lawful, and they are effective,’ White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters on Tuesday. His remarks came immediately after Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif demanded an end to the drone attacks and two eminent rights body released reports alleging that the drone attacks have resulted in large scale civilian casualties and by doing so US has violated international law. One of the conditions for ending the drone strikes, top administration officials indicated, would be elimination of safe havens; which is unlikely to be achieved in the near future. ‘The United States does not take lethal strikes when we or our partners have the ability to capture individual terrorists. Our preference is always to detain, interrogate, and prosecute. We take extraordinary care to make sure that our counter-terrorism actions are in accordance with all applicable domestic and international law and that they are consistent with US values and US policy,’ Mr. Carney said. State Department Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf said the answer to the Pakistani demand of ending the drone attacks can be neither yes nor no.