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June 4, 2009

UN Rapporteur Calls for Probe of US Killings Abroad
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A top UN official is calling for a probe into the killings of innocent
civilians by US forces and private contractors. Philip Alston, the UN’s
Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions,
said many US military strikes, shootings and drone attacks have killed
scores of people without any accountability.

Philip Alston: “The government has failed to effectively investigate and
punish lower-rank soldiers for such deaths and has not held senior
officers responsible under the doctrine of command responsibility.
Worse, it has effectively created a zone of impunity for private
contractors and civilian agents by only rarely investigating and
prosecuting them.”

Alston says the US should establish a national commission of inquiry and
appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the killings of innocents
abroad.



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