With the use of drones finally making it into mainstream news, the U.S. government has to explain the right to use the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).
Newly confirmed Secretary of State has spoken of the use of drones leading up to his confirmation hearings last week and stated the U.S. foreign policy is more than the UAV.
"President Obama and everyone here knows that American foreign policy is not defined by drones and deployments alone," said Kerry during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "American foreign policy is also defined by food security and energy security, humanitarian assistance, the fight against disease and the push for development, as much as it is by any single counter terrorism initiative."
The former Massachusetts senator added, "We cannot allow the good that we do to save and change lives to be eclipse entirely by the role we had to play since September 11. A role that was thrust upon us."
Kerry is a five-term U.S. senator since 1985 and a Vietnam War veteran who ran for president in 2004. He was nominated to succeed Hillary Clinton as secretary of state and was easily confirmed late last month.
The United Nations has confirmed they will investigate the use of drones by the UK and US, notably in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen.
According to The Guardian, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism stated between June 2004 and Sept. 2012, drone strikes killed between 2,562 and 3,325 people in Pakistan. Of the number of people dead, between 474 and 881 were civilians, including 176 children.
The results of the investigation will be detailed to the UN General Assembly in the fall.
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