Four Americans killed in US drone strikes since 2009: Holder

Four American nationals have been killed in the US drone strikes overseas since 2009, a top Obama Administration official has told US lawmakers.
While the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki, a US citizen who was involved with al-Qaeda in Yemen, was well known, the names of three other Americans were revealed yesterday by US Attorney General Eric Holder in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman, Patrick Leahy.
"Since 2009, the United States, in the conduct of US counterterrorism operations against al-Qaeda and its associated forces outside of areas of active hostilities, has specifically targeted and killed one US citizen, Anwar al-Aulaqi," Holder said.

"The United States is further aware of three other US citizens who have been killed in such US counterterrorism operations over that same time period: Samir Khan, 'Abd al-Rahman Anwar al-Aulaqi, and Jude Kenan Mohammed.
These individuals were not specifically targeted by the United States," Holder informed the lawmakers.
In his five page letter dated May 22, Holder said "it is an unfortunate but undeniable fact" that a "small number" of US citizens "have decided to commit violent attacks against their own country from abroad.

"Based on generations-old legal principles and Supreme Court decisions handed down during World War II, as well as during the current conflict, it is clear and logical that United States citizenship alone does not make such individuals immune from being targeted, he noted.

Rather, it means that the government must take special care and take into account all relevant constitutional considerations, the laws of war, and other law with respect to US citizens - even those who are leading efforts to kill their fellow, innocent Americans, he said.
"Such considerations allow for the use of lethal force in a foreign country against a US citizen who is a senior operational leader of al-Qaeda or its associated forces, and who is actively engaged in planning to kill Americans, in the following circumstances: (1) the US government has determined, after a thorough and careful review, that the individual poses an imminent threat of violent attack against the United States; (2) capture is not feasible; and (3) the operation would be conducted in a manner consistent with applicable law of war principles," Holder said.

According to the Attorney General, the decision to target Anwar al-Aulaqi was additionally subjected to extensive policy review at the highest levels of the US Government, and senior US officials also briefed the appropriate committees of Congress on the possibility of using lethal force against al-Aulaqi.