Drone dialogue: Flying in circles?

Transparency and accountability remain out of sight after four major reports question the legality of US drone strikes.

Mamana Bibi was tending her crops in northern Pakistan one day in late October 2012. The 68-year-old grandmother was picking okra not far from the family home, when a missile was fired from a remotely piloted aircraft. Bibi was killed instantly, her body torn to pieces just metres away from her young granddaughter, according to a recent report published by Amnesty International.

Four recent major reports have questioned the legality of the United States' drone programme, which has struck targets in several countries, including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia - but it remains unclear how the US will respond to the concerns.

But the reports - two by UN Special Rapporteurs and two by human rights groups - say some of the drone strikes constituted unjustifiable attacks on civilians. So far, the US government has released no official number of civilian casualties from its drone programme. The UN, however, has recorded at least 450 civilians killed by US drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and Afghanistan since 2004. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism has estimated almost double that figure were killed.

The US denies that it indiscriminately targets civilians and defends the drone strikes, saying they are "necessary, legal and just". Yet some legislators have called on the Obama administration to abide by the recommendations put forth in the reports.

While the U.S. denies targeting civilians isn't it interesting that people have been killed by drones while attending weddings and funerals and that the press will report verbatim that all those who have died in these drone attacks are "militants" yet there is no way to verify that claim.  You must rely upon the press briefings given by officials  speaking for the American  government.