Human rights activists are turning their attention to the drone program in part because they say there's no warning to innocent civilians who are in a targeted area.

Human rights activists at odds with President Obama over his recent national security decisions are indicating that they might legally challenge the U.S. military's use of Predator drones, a weapon that intelligence officials say is their single most effective tool in combating Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Predator spy planes are unmanned aerial vehicles that are virtually invisible when flying overhead. The Air Force uses them frequently in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where they are able to track and hit targets from the air when mountainous terrain makes it notoriously hard to send troops. 

"That's the spooky thing about the Predator," national security and terrorism expert Neil Livingstone said. "Even if the Predator is directly overhead and you know it's overheard, you still can't see it or hear it. This is kind of like death out of the blue."

Human rights activists are turning their attention to the drone program in part because they say there's no warning to innocent civilians who are in a targeted area. 

Gabor Rona, international legal director of Human Rights First, a U.S.-based group that advocates universal rights and freedom, said large number of civilians are being unintentionally hit, harmed and killed.

"This is not only a violation of the international laws of war," he said. "It's bad policy."

Opponents of the drones say that the policy could be illegal. The laws of war allow individuals who are engaged in hostilities to be targeted in an armed conflict but strictly prohibit actions against those not engaged. 

"Even when you're attacking a legitimate military objective, you cannot cause civilian casualties that exceed the value of a legitimate military attack," Rona says.

It's undeniable that more civilians have been killed than actual Al Qaeda terrorists in the 16 Predator strikes this year. But there's little chance that could change. 

"So many of these guys surround themselves with collateral casualties," Livingstone said, and large numbers of women and children are strategically placed around hotbeds of activity. Livingstone makes the point that even if high-value targets are killed in one of these drone attacks, Al Qaeda still can claim a "propaganda victory" because of the number of civilian casualties.

"That's the spooky thing about the Predator," national security and terrorism expert Neil Livingstone said. "Even if the Predator is directly overhead and you know it's overheard, you still can't see it or hear it. This is kind of like death out of the blue."

Uh, Neil, that's the whole point.  Why are you leftist shitheads so worried about fighting "fair" with terrorists??  Where was the outrage by you losers on 9/11?

FNN