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In sign of shifting policy, Obama looking to end to perpetual U.S. ‘war on terror’
Human rights groups mostly welcomed Obama’s assertion that America could not remain on “a perpetual war-time footing,” but some activists said he was not going far enough.
Republican opponents warned against being too quick to declare al-Qaeda a spent force.
“The president is correct to highlight the successes in America’s war on terror that have occurred since September 11, 2001,” said Senator Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican mentioned as a possible U.S. presidential candidate in 2016.
“He is wrong, however, to understate the continued threat to the U.S. homeland,” Rubio said in a statement.
The new U.S. drone rules are likely to reduce “signature” drone strikes, which target suspicious-looking groups. Those attacks are blamed for many civilian casualties in Pakistan’s tribal areas near Afghanistan and in Yemen.
Obama “has clearly raised the bar significantly for the use of drone strikes,” said John Bellinger, former State Department legal adviser in President George W. Bush’s administration.
“The standard for targeting is now the same for Americans and non-Americans – it must be a continuing and imminent threat of violence to Americans. And there must be a near certainty that no non-combatants will be killed,” he said.
