Portside

Everything we thought we knew about drone warfare -- and America’s wars more broadly -- is about to be thrown out the window. Under the circumstances, one thing is predictable: ever more civilians are going to die in America’s wars.

Unfortunately, both the release and the new order fall far short of the standards for transparency and accountability needed to ensure that the government’s targeted killing program is lawful under domestic and international law.

Hina Shamsi, the director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) National Security Project, said the Obama administration “continues to fight against even basic transparency” about how it justifies the executions of thousands of people under the programme.