President Barack Obama typically must personally sign off on plans to strike terror suspects who are located outside war zones in which America is officially fighting. The policy document says that "absent extraordinary circumstances," a drone strike on a high-value target will only be taken if there is "near certainty" no civilians will be killed, and says the United States should respect another nation's sovereignty in weighing drone strikes. The Obama administration last month provided fatality estimates for 473 strikes between 2009 and 2015 that were conducted outside principal war zones. The partially redacted document was released as a result of a lawsuit brought by the ACLU, which has long sparred with the government over America's secretive drone program. Pakistani residents look at vehicle hit by a drone strike in the remote town of Ahmad Wal in Balochistan, in May 2016The 18-page Presidential Policy Guidance (PPG), published Saturday by the American Civil Liberties Union, provides more details than the government had previously revealed on how drone strikes are approved.

Source: Bangkok Post August 07, 2016 00:56 UTC