Finally - the UN investigates our nation's use of drones and targeted assassinations

America's Predator drone.

We've been saying for some time here that Barack Obama, who won the Nobel peace prize for his good intentions, has been leading the U.S. down the road toward becoming the biggest terrorist nation of all with its increasing reliance on drones and targeted assassinations.

We note the irony in our president's recent leadership on the gun control issue in opposition to violence in our own backyards and school buildings while he continues to violate international boundaries to murder those he judges - without trial - our enemies.

Whereas the Obama Administration continues to ignore the outcries of sane members of our society against the use of drones, we can only applaud the UN's decision to intervene in the matter:

WASHINGTON -- The United Nations opened a major new investigation on Thursday into the United States' use of drones and targeted assassinations.

The U.N. investigation, led by special rapporteur on counterterrorism and human rights Ben Emmerson, is expected to focus on the legal justification for America's expansive drone program, which has largely remained secretive and unexamined.

"The exponential rise in the use of drone technology in a variety of military and non-military contexts represents a real challenge to the framework of established international law," Emmerson said in a statement released by his office.

"It is therefore imperative that appropriate legal and operational structures are urgently put in place to regulate its use in a manner that complies with the requirements of international law, including international human rights law, international humanitarian law (or the law of war as it used to be called), and international refugee law."

Human rights observers have long objected to the use of drones to target suspected terrorists because they often result in wider civilian deaths than administration officials have acknowledged.

But more practical concerns -- about the legality and efficacy of the program, as well as the White House's lack of transparency -- have also been growing.

The United States is by far the leading user of drones and unmanned vehicles for targeted assassinations, but it is not the only one. Drone use is expected to expand widely around the world -- China and Iran already are known to have the capability -- and there have been growing calls for the U.S. to clarify its own internal rules for the appropriate use of the technology.

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