Govt ‘to loosen counter-terrorism rules’
WASHINGTON: The Trump administration is exploring how to dismantle or bypass Obama-era constraints intended to prevent civilian deaths from drone attacks, commando raids and other counter-terrorism missions outside conventional war zones like Afghanistan and Iraq, according to officials familiar with internal deliberations.
Already, President Donald Trump has granted a Pentagon request to declare parts of three provinces of Yemen to be an “area of active hostilities” where looser battlefield rules apply. That opened the door to a Special Operations raid in late January in which several civilians were killed, as well as to the largest-ever series of US air strikes targeting Yemen-based al-Qaeda militants, starting nearly two weeks ago, the officials said.
Mr Trump is also expected to sign off soon on a similar Pentagon proposal to designate parts of Somalia to be another such battlefield-style zone for 180 days, removing constraints on air strikes and raids targeting people suspected of being militants with the al-Qaeda-linked group al-Shebab, they said.
Inside the White House, the temporary suspension of the limits for parts of Yemen and Somalia is seen as a test run while the government considers whether to more broadly rescind or relax the Obama-era rules, said the officials, who described the internal deliberations on the condition of anonymity.
The move to open the throttle on using military force — and accept a greater risk of civilian casualties — in troubled parts of the Muslim world comes as the Trump administration is also trying to significantly increase military spending and slash foreign aid and state department budgets.
The proposal to cut soft-power budgets, however, is meeting with stiff resistance from some senior Republicans on Capitol Hill, as well as from top active-duty and retired generals and admirals, who fear perpetual conflicts if the root causes of instability and terrorism are not addressed.
“Any budget we pass that guts the state department’s budget, you will never win this war,” Sen Lindsey Graham, a member of the Armed Services Committee, said during a hearing last week. Referring to the Islamic State, also known as Isil, he added: “As a matter of fact, Isil will be celebrating.”
In a sign of mounting concern over the government’s policy review, more than three dozen members of the US’ national security establishment have urged Defence Secretary Jim Mattis to maintain the thrust of the Obama-era principles for counterterrorism missions, saying strict standards should be maintained for using force outside traditional war zones.
The former officials, in a letter sent on Sunday to Mr Mattis, warned that “even small numbers of unintentional civilian deaths or injuries — whether or not legally permitted — can cause significant strategic setbacks”, increasing violence from militant groups or prompting partners and allies to reduce collaboration with the US.
Indeed, immediately after the Special Operations raid on Jan 29, Yemeni officials suspended further commando missions, pending an assessment of what went wrong, although they later backtracked.
The letter’s 37 signatories included John McLaughlin, who was acting CIA director for President George W Bush, Lisa Monaco, President Barack Obama’s homeland security and counterterrorism adviser, and Matthew Olsen, who served as a national security official in the Bush justice department and as director of the National Counterterrorism Centre in the Obama administration.
The White House did not respond to a request for an interview about this article.