President Obama's public acknowledgment of the CIA's secret drone campaign in Pakistan puts new pressure on the administration to defend the policy openly. That's a welcome development. The president should now be equally forthcoming about the rationale for the targeted killings of American citizens.

In an interview conducted by Google and YouTube on Monday, Obama defended the use of drones as "judicious" and added that "obviously a lot of these strikes have been in the FATA," Pakistan's federally administered tribal areas. An administration official told CNN that the president's remarks about the secret program were not a "slip-up." Nevertheless, on Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney refused to discuss the drone program, withholding comment on "supposed covert programs."

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Science & Technology • * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • Foreign Relations • Politics in General • Office of the President • President Barack Obama • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

1. Br. Michael wrote: Presidents, with the cowardly acquiescence of Congress, claim the power to unilaterally plunge this country into war.  Clinton-Serbia and Obama-Lybia. Having surrendered the point the people are not entitled to any explanation, the President is under no obligation to give us any reason at all. February 1, 12:04 pm | [comment link]

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© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.

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