The British military has been involved in selecting the targets of the United States’ secret drone campaign, new documents obtained by the U.K.-based rights group Reprieve revealedSunday.
According to the documents, personnel at U.K. bases leased to the U.S. military play a role in drawing up the “kill list” for the ongoing drone assassinations in countries such as Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan, and others.
“These documents are the strongest evidence yet that the U.S. may be conducting its illegal, secret drone war from bases on British soil,” said Reprieve staff attorney Jennifer Gibson. “The U.K. government now needs to come clean on what role the bases we lease to the U.S. are playing in drawing up secretive U.S. assassination lists—and what exactly the U.K.’s own involvement in these lists is.”
While U.K. politicians have said that the U.S. is not operating drones from British bases, they have refused to answer questions about what role the U.K. government plays in selecting targets for drone assassination.