White House - U.S. drone killings legal to combat threats


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. campaign of drone strikes to kill militants in other countries is legal under international law, President Barack Obama's counterterrorism adviser insisted on Monday in a rare public admission and justification of the controversial tactic.

John Brennan's speech, on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the U.S. killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a raid in Pakistan, was remarkable in that U.S. officials in public rarely discuss the drone program, which has for years been considered a covert CIA operation.

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