Gates referred to the targeted killings as “being able to execute in effect an American citizen, no matter how awful,” and said some third party should have a say in it, with the intelligence committees of Congress kept informed.

 


Special drone court needed as check: Gates (via AFP)

Former US defense secretary Robert Gates on Sunday endorsed the idea of having a special court review drone strikes as a check against a president’s power to, in effect, execute Americans. The issue came to the fore last week during a Senate hearing to confirm John Brennan, President Barack Obama’s…