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Bush authorized drone Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/nm/20021110/ts_nm/yemen_usa_policy_dc_3 http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/nm/20021110/ts_nm/yemen_usa_policy_dc_3 Bush Authorized Yemen-Style Strikes, Rice Says Sun Nov 10, 1:16 PM ET By Todd Eastham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) has given broad authority to "a variety of people" in his administration to launch attacks like the missile strike that killed six suspected al Qaeda operatives in Yemen last week, his national security adviser said on Sunday. "The president has given broad authority to a variety of people to do what they have to do to protect this country," national security adviser Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) told the television show Fox News Sunday. "It's a new kind of war. We're fighting on a lot of different fronts." A report in Newsweek magazine made public on Sunday suggests the Yemen attack was a precursor of more to come. Several other al Qaeda operatives are being tracked and targeted for such strikes in Islamic countries in the Middle East and Asia, Newsweek said, citing an "informed source." The principal target, senior al Qaeda leader Qaed Senyan al-Harthi, was a suspect in the 2000 bombing of the warship USS Cole (news - web sites) in the Yemeni port of Aden, which killed 17 U.S. sailors. He was killed along with five other suspected Muslim extremists when the car they were traveling in was obliterated by a missile fired by an unmanned "Predator" drone operated by the CIA (news - web sites). A U.S. citizen was also killed in the attack. Human rights group Amnesty International wrote to Bush on Friday to question Washington's role in the attack. 'EXTRA-JUDICIAL EXECUTIONS' "If this was the deliberate killing of suspects in lieu of arrest, in circumstances in which they did not pose an immediate threat, the killings would be extra-judicial executions in violation of international human rights law," the London-based rights group in a statement. Amnesty called on the United States to issue a clear and unequivocal statement that it does not sanction extra-judicial executions. Rice seemed to reject that call on Sunday. "I can assure you that no constitutional questions are raised here," she said when asked if such killings violated U.S. or international law. The president is "well within the bounds of accepted practice and the letter of his constitutional authority," Rice said. "We have a lot of allies in this war," she added. The United States views al Qaeda militants as enemy combatants in its war on terror and fair game for military strikes anywhere in the world. While Washington says it sought permission from Yemen for last week's strike, it has offered no assurances it would always do so in the future. Newsweek asked Sen. Robert Graham of Florida, outgoing chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, if other such strikes were planned. "I hope so," was Graham's reply. Citing "informed sources," Newsweek said Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh gave the United States permission for such attacks but was angered when the hit was leaked to the press. CIA officials were also angry and concerned that the leak, which they traced to the Pentagon (news - web sites), would discourage other countries from allowing such strikes within their borders, Newsweek reported.

Bush authorized drone Cia kills in yemen Cia kills us citizen Clean shot Considers drone patrols Drones ohio traffic applications { May 26 2003 } Drones on coast { December 13 2002 } Drones tested patrol us mexico border { October 10 2003 } More predator use { November 29 2002 } Files Listed: 9

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