UK Members of Parliament are to conduct an inquiry into Britain’s deployment of UAS to target militants.
An investigation by the Commons Defence Select Committee into Britain’s use of unmanned aircarfts could also shed light on how the US is deploying them, it is thought. Scrutiny of the use of the unmanned weapons could shed light on the “secret war” being waged remotely by the US against terror suspects in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, it is thought.
The Commons Defence Select Committee will consider the tactic, and MPs and peers could also debate Britain’s drone policy and the ethics of attacking people remotely.
Ministers are likely to come under pressure to disclose whether they are sharing intelligence with the US to help the CIA with its UAS attacks.
James Arbuthnot, the Conservative chairman of the Defence Committee, told The Times: “An unmanned aircarft is the same as any other platform that fires weapons. The issues that are concerning people are the distance between the person who is controlling that platform and the death that results from it.
Britain has deployed UAS in Afghanistan since 2006 and last month it was announced that a new squadron of unmanned RAF aircraft controlled for the first time from terminals in Britain would begin operations over the country within weeks.
Philip Alstron, the former UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killing, suggested Britain could make the US’ use of UAS less shrouded in secrecy however.
He said: “If the British Government is forced to be more transparent and more forthcoming, that puts great pressure on its allies and public opinion certainly in the United States will see that what they currently assume to be the reasonable norm is not.”
Photo: Reaper Over Afghanistan Credit – Neil Dunridge
Source: The Telegraph