MOSCOW, May 21 (RIA Novosti) – The Obama Administration is planning to release a long-awaited report providing justification for the US drone attacks targeting American terrorist suspects abroad, the AP news agency reported Wednesday quoting administration officials.
“Two administration officials told The Associated Press that the Justice Department has decided not to appeal a Court of Appeals ruling requiring disclosure of a redacted version of the memo under the Freedom of Information Act,” the news agency said in its report.
The decision to disclose the secret memo comes ahead of the Senate’s vote Wednesday to push forward President Barack Obama’s nomination of the memo’s author, former Justice Department official David Barron to serve on the US 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.
The nomination triggered heated debates among the senators. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky earlier claimed that he would oppose the nomination despite the promise to reveal the document.
“I rise today to say that there is no legal precedent for killing American citizens not directly involved in combat and that any nominee who rubber stamps and grants such power to a president is not worthy of being placed one step away from the Supreme Court,” the AP quoted Paul as saying.
The American Civil Liberties Union that has repeatedly filed requests for the disclosure of the memo addressed senators with a letter Tuesday urging them not to move forward with Barron’s confirmation until his report is released.
The use of unmanned aerial vehicles is one of the most sensitive issues in Washington. The Obama administration has repeatedly come under sharp criticism over its drone operations, which quite often lead to civilian deaths.
Drone strikes against al-Qaeda in Yemen in September 2011 killed US-born Anwar Al-Awlaki and another US citizen, Samir Khan. A subsequent attack in October that year claimed the life of al-Awlaki's 16-year-old son, also a US citizen.
Some legal experts insist that targeted killings of US-born citizens overseas and away from any conventional battlefield is illegal.
