The candidate to head the CIA asserts that 'drones' 'save lives'

At his confirmation hearing in the Senate on Thursday, John Brennan, chosen by Barack Obama to head the CIA, could hardly speak a few minutes before they started shouting at him. "Murder is against the Constitution ... Traitor!" Yelled a protester who had sneaked into the room. After four similar disruptions, the session was suspended and the whole audience was expelled from the courtroom. The tension was clear by the president's most controversial appointment to many of his followers. Brennan, a veteran CIA spy and so far Obama's counterterrorism chief advisor, has overseen since 2009 the bombing plan drones ('drones') , which were strengthened during the Obama Administration. Pressed by a Democratic senator, Brennan complained that there is "a misunderstanding about what is making the U.S. government."According to him, it is not a punishment for terrorists, but the 'drones'are "the last resort" to prevent attacks and used "to save lives". Four years ago, the president did not dare appoint Brennan CIA chief because he wanted to avoid controversy by spy responsible positions during interrogations with torture program after the 11-S.Brennan complains that the Bush Administration was promoted several times for criticizing the Iraq war or oppose the 'waterboarding' almost-drowning method which prisoners were subjected. This Thursday insisted repudiate torture , about which he expressed "his personal objections," but did not try to stop because he did not depend says. He declined to clarify whether the torture helped bring information to locate Osama Bin Laden, as the film tells 'The Darkest Night', and said only that information is classified. Brennan forcefully defended the use of 'drones', he has systematized as counterterrorism chief. Since Obama came to the White House have been at least 310 attacks 'drones' in Pakistan, six times more than in the eight years of Bush. Since January 2009, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, a London-based group that has the bombings, estimates that at least 2,600 people have died in these attacks , including more than 400 civilians identified as unrelated to terrorism. In Pakistan have killed 176 children, in Yemen, between 27 and 37, and in Somalia, between one and three.

The 'blacklist' of drones

At the hearing, Brennan said the president has always wanted to ensure that "any action taken fully respect the law." The Administration now claims that the Senate will give more information about how decisions attacks 'drones', which Obama OKs chosen a cast of which is updated almost every week . The blacklist has included a girl of 17 years or Anwar al-Awlaki, a cleric with U.S. citizenship bombed in Yemen in September 2011 with an assistant New Yorker who was not among the most sought. The 'drone' that killed Al-Awlaki left a base in Saudi Arabia whose installation Brennan helped negotiate through his contacts in the days when he worked as head of the CIA mission in Riyadh. The Administration did not publicly confirm the details of their attacks. But Brennan's audience requires some explanation. So, a few hours before the meeting, the NBC published on its website thelegal justification of why the president has the power to order the death of any suspected terrorists , including U.S. citizens, without trial. According to a Justice Department report, "the president has the authority to respond to an imminent threat of Al Qaeda and its associated forces derived from its constitutional responsibility to protect the country," congressional authorization after 11-S and "the existence of an armed conflict with Al Qaeda under international law. " The document states that attacking the U.S. members of the terrorist organization is "an act of national self-defense". The toughest questions came to Brennan Obama Party . Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon said the president's favorite: "All Americans deserve to know when your government believes it has the right to kill them." Brennan himself has admitted its policy dilemmas he has directed.During a conference last April, acknowledged that the use of 'drones' "raises profound moral questions" and strength to face "a deeply rooted personal beliefs" and "values ​​as a nation." "If someone in government who work in this area tells you not suffered with this, then you have not spent much time thinking about it ... I know that I have done and will continue to suffer with it as long involved in counterterrorism" he said.