US President strongly defended controversial drone strikes as “legal, effective” and necessary in a “just war” of self-defence as he announced a new counter-terrorism doctrine that include setting new limits on their use in countries like Pakistan.
In a major speech on his counter-terrorism policy at the National Defence University here, Obama said he would curtail the use of drones, shut the prison at Guantanamo Bay and seek new limits on his own war power.
Obama, who for the first time personally acknowledged that drones have killed several Americans overseas, justified the use of unmanned armed aircraft as “legal” and a highly “effective” tool in self-defence, indicating that he would continue to use it as a key asset in war against terrorism.
“We are at war with an organisation that right now would kill as many Americans as they could if we did not stop them first... So this is a just war — a war waged proportionally, in last resort, and in self-defence,” Obama said.