Changes

===Targeted drone killings===

===Targeted drone killings===

According to the ''New York Times'', John Brennan has been the "principal coordinator" of U.S. kill lists. Former Obama administration counterterrorism official Daniel Benjamin stated that Brennan "probably had more power and influence than anyone in a comparable position in the last 20 years."<ref name=nyt20130205a>{{cite news|newspaper=The New York Times|date=5 February 2013|accessdate=|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/06/world/middleeast/with-brennan-pick-a-light-on-drone-strikes-hazards.html|title=Drone Strikes’ Dangers to Get Rare Moment in Public Eye|first1=Robert|last1=Worth|first2=Mark|last2=Mazzetti|first3=Scott|last3=Shane}}</ref> The criteria and decisions determining who may be targeted for killing were developed in large part by John Brennan, who "wields enormous power in shaping decisions on 'kill' lists and the allocation of armed drones".<ref>Washington Post</ref>  Barack Obama, a [[Nobel Peace Prize]] winner, joked about his approvals of names submitted off Brennan's list: "I'm really good at killing people."<ref>https://www.lrb.co.uk/v38/n05/thomas-nagel/really-good-at-killing</ref>

According to the ''[[New York Times]]'', [[John Brennan]] has been the "principal coordinator" of [[U.S.]] kill lists. Former [[Obama administration]] counterterrorism official Daniel Benjamin stated that Brennan "probably had more power and influence than anyone in a comparable position in the last 20 years."<ref name=nyt20130205a>{{cite news|newspaper=The New York Times|date=5 February 2013|accessdate=|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/06/world/middleeast/with-brennan-pick-a-light-on-drone-strikes-hazards.html|title=Drone Strikes’ Dangers to Get Rare Moment in Public Eye|first1=Robert|last1=Worth|first2=Mark|last2=Mazzetti|first3=Scott|last3=Shane}}</ref> The criteria and decisions determining who may be targeted for killing were developed in large part by John Brennan, who "wields enormous power in shaping decisions on 'kill' lists and the allocation of armed [[drone[[s".<ref>[[Washington Post]]</ref>  [[Barack Obama]], a [[Nobel Peace Prize]] winner, joked about his approvals of names submitted off Brennan's list: "I'm really good at killing people."<ref>https://www.lrb.co.uk/v38/n05/thomas-nagel/really-good-at-killing</ref>

Obama's kill list was criticized internationally as "targeted executions" and "extrajudicial murders."<ref name=rt1024>{{cite news|title=Kill-list 2.0: Obama’s ‘disposition matrix’ maps out extrajudicial murders for years to come |url=http://rt.com/usa/news/disposition-matrix-kill-obama-146/ |newspaper=Russia Today |date=24 October 2012 |archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/6BhOhc89I?url=http://rt.com/usa/news/disposition-matrix-kill-obama-146/ |deadurl=no |df=dmy }}</ref> "[I]n essence, this means that based on intelligence evidence, the administration assumes the right to judge and execute anyone without bothering about such minor things as proper court hearings, or the right of the accused person for proper legal defense...the fact that such operations clearly violate the principles propagated by the U.S. itself, like the right of everyone for legal defense, does not seem to bother the administration."<ref name=vor1026>{{cite news|title=Barack Obama widens the practice of extrajudicial killings |first=Boris |last=Volkhonsky |url=http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_10_26/Barack-Obama-widens-the-practice-of-extrajudicial-killings/ |publisher=Voice of Russia |date=26 October 2012 |archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/6Bp3m7GtF?url=http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_10_26/Barack-Obama-widens-the-practice-of-extrajudicial-killings/ |deadurl=no |df=dmy }}</ref> Speaking at [[Harvard Law School]] on 25 October 2012, United Nations Special Rapporteur on [[human rights]] and counter terrorism, Ben Emmerson, stated that he would launch an investigation unit within the United Nations Human Rights Council.<ref name=rt1026>{{cite news|title=United Nations to begin investigating US drone strike targeted kills |url=http://rt.com/usa/news/us-drone-emmerson-un-256/ |newspaper=Russia Today |date=26 October 2012 |archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/6BhOjRYIp?url=http://rt.com/usa/news/us-drone-emmerson-un-256/ |deadurl=no |df=dmy }}</ref> Emmerson and Christof Heyns, UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, have described some Obama administration targeted killings as [[war crime]]s.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jun/21/drone-strikes-international-law-un Drone strikes threaten 50 years of international law, says UN rapporteur], Owen Bowcott, ''[[The Guardian]]'',  21 June 2012</ref><ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20131030231702/http://rt.com/usa/us-drone-emmerson-un-256/</ref>

Obama's kill list was criticized internationally as "targeted executions" and "extrajudicial murders."<ref name=rt1024>{{cite news|title=Kill-list 2.0: Obama’s ‘disposition matrix’ maps out extrajudicial murders for years to come |url=http://rt.com/usa/news/disposition-matrix-kill-obama-146/ |newspaper=Russia Today |date=24 October 2012 |archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/6BhOhc89I?url=http://rt.com/usa/news/disposition-matrix-kill-obama-146/ |deadurl=no |df=dmy }}</ref> "[I]n essence, this means that based on intelligence evidence, the administration assumes the right to judge and execute anyone without bothering about such minor things as proper court hearings, or the right of the accused person for proper legal defense...the fact that such operations clearly violate the principles propagated by the U.S. itself, like the right of everyone for legal defense, does not seem to bother the administration."<ref name=vor1026>{{cite news|title=Barack Obama widens the practice of extrajudicial killings |first=Boris |last=Volkhonsky |url=http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_10_26/Barack-Obama-widens-the-practice-of-extrajudicial-killings/ |publisher=Voice of Russia |date=26 October 2012 |archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/6Bp3m7GtF?url=http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_10_26/Barack-Obama-widens-the-practice-of-extrajudicial-killings/ |deadurl=no |df=dmy }}</ref> Speaking at [[Harvard Law School]] on 25 October 2012, United Nations Special Rapporteur on [[human rights]] and counter terrorism, Ben Emmerson, stated that he would launch an investigation unit within the United Nations Human Rights Council.<ref name=rt1026>{{cite news|title=United Nations to begin investigating US drone strike targeted kills |url=http://rt.com/usa/news/us-drone-emmerson-un-256/ |newspaper=Russia Today |date=26 October 2012 |archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/6BhOjRYIp?url=http://rt.com/usa/news/us-drone-emmerson-un-256/ |deadurl=no |df=dmy }}</ref> Emmerson and Christof Heyns, UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, have described some Obama administration targeted killings as [[war crime]]s.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jun/21/drone-strikes-international-law-un Drone strikes threaten 50 years of international law, says UN rapporteur], Owen Bowcott, ''[[The Guardian]]'',  21 June 2012</ref><ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20131030231702/http://rt.com/usa/us-drone-emmerson-un-256/</ref>

[[Glenn Greenwald]] has written that "the central role played by the NCTC in determining who should be killed [is] rather odious... the NCTC operates a gigantic data-mining operation..."<ref name=gw1024>{{cite news|title=Obama moves to make the War on Terror permanent |first=Glenn |last=Greenwald |authorlink=Glenn Greenwald |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/oct/24/obama-terrorism-kill-list |newspaper=The Guardian |date=24 October 2012 |archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/6BhOg4QS6?url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/24/obama-terrorism-kill-list |deadurl=no |location=London |df=dmy }}</ref> Greenwald concludes that the Kill list has established "simultaneously a surveillance state and a secretive, unaccountable judicial body that analyzes who you are and then decrees what should be done with you, how you should be "disposed" of, beyond the reach of any minimal accountability or transparency".<ref name=gw1024 /> Former [[counterterrorism]] specialist and [[military intelligence]] officer Philip Giraldi has criticized the [[disposition matrix]]'s "everyday" killing of targets with what he calls "little or no evidence", leaving the White House "completely unaccountable".<ref>{{cite news|title=Kill Lists Will Continue |first=Philip |last=Giraldi |authorlink=|url=http://original.antiwar.com/giraldi/2012/11/07/kill-lists-will-continue/ |work=[[Antiwar.com]] |date=8 November 2012 |archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/6C2YMHo57?url=http://original.antiwar.com/giraldi/2012/11/07/kill-lists-will-continue/ |deadurl=no |df=dmy }}</ref><ref>[http://original.antiwar.com/giraldi/2012/12/05/the-protocols-for-death/ The Protocols for Death], by Philip Giraldi, [[Antiwar.com]], 06 December 2012</ref>

[[Glenn Greenwald]] has written that "the central role played by the NCTC in determining who should be killed [is] rather odious... the NCTC operates a gigantic data-mining operation..."<ref name=gw1024>{{cite news|title=Obama moves to make the War on Terror permanent |first=Glenn |last=Greenwald |authorlink=Glenn Greenwald |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/oct/24/obama-terrorism-kill-list |newspaper=The Guardian |date=24 October 2012 |archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/6BhOg4QS6?url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/24/obama-terrorism-kill-list |deadurl=no |location=London |df=dmy }}</ref> Greenwald concludes that the Kill list has established "simultaneously a surveillance state and a secretive, unaccountable judicial body that analyzes who you are and then decrees what should be done with you, how you should be "disposed" of, beyond the reach of any minimal accountability or transparency".<ref name=gw1024 /> Former [[counterterrorism]] specialist and [[military intelligence]] officer [[Philip Giraldi]] has criticized the [[disposition matrix]]'s "everyday" killing of targets with what he calls "little or no evidence", leaving the White House "completely unaccountable".<ref>{{cite news|title=Kill Lists Will Continue |first=Philip |last=Giraldi |authorlink=|url=http://original.antiwar.com/giraldi/2012/11/07/kill-lists-will-continue/ |work=[[Antiwar.com]] |date=8 November 2012 |archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/6C2YMHo57?url=http://original.antiwar.com/giraldi/2012/11/07/kill-lists-will-continue/ |deadurl=no |df=dmy }}</ref><ref>[http://original.antiwar.com/giraldi/2012/12/05/the-protocols-for-death/ The Protocols for Death], by Philip Giraldi, [[Antiwar.com]], 06 December 2012</ref>

[[File:Obama UN.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Obama at the UN, "The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam."<ref>https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/obama-future-must-not-belong-those-who-slander-prophet-islam-katrina-trinko/</ref>]]

[[File:Obama UN.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Obama at the UN, "The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam."<ref>https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/obama-future-must-not-belong-those-who-slander-prophet-islam-katrina-trinko/</ref>]]