TEHRAN -- Iran’s top human rights official says U.S. drone strikes have only caused death and destruction, killing tens of thousands of civilians and destroying their homes over the last two decades under the pretext of countering terrorism.
“Under the pretext of countering terrorism, the U.S. has conducted at least 14,000 drone strikes in seven countries over the last two decades,”Kazem Gharibabadi, secretary general of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights, tweeted late on Sunday.
“The result? 48,000 civilians killed, tens of thousands of homes shattered into pieces,” he added.
The figures were taken from a letter by dozens of U.S. Congress members sent to President Joe Biden on Thursday asking for the review and overhaul of existing counterterrorism policy.
“Without systematic reforms centered on human rights and international law, the status quo will continue to undermine counterterrorism objectives, produce significant human and strategic costs and erode the rule of law and the United States’ image abroad,” said the letter, signed by 11 senators and 39 members of the House of Representatives.
The letter, citing third-party sources, revealed that 48,000 civilians had been killed by U.S. drone strikes in seven countries in the course of the past two decades. As many as 2,200 civilians, including 450 children, had been killed in at least 14,000 US drone airstrikes since 2002.
“In far too many cases, rather than achieving the policy goal of eliminating hostile combatants to preserve US national security, lethal U.S. strikes have instead killed thousands of civilians, including children,” the American lawmakers said.
The signatories also acknowledged that “alarmingly”, the actual numbers are likely to be significantly higher given the difficulty of comprehensive reporting and Washington’s consistent underreporting of these numbers and reported refusal to probe death reports.
“We strongly urge your administration to review and overhaul U.S. counterterrorism policy to center human rights and the protection of civilians, align with U.S. and international law, prioritize non-lethal tools to address conflict and fragility, and only use force when it is lawful and as a last resort,” the legislators added, addressing Biden.