Obama leaves worrisome legacy of drone killing

As US President Barack Obama completes his second term, the controversial drone strikes he has dramatically escalated will clearly be part of his legacy.

The US military claimed that it launched a drone strike on May 21 that killed Taliban leader Akhtar Mohammad Mansour in a western Pakistan province near the border with Afghanistan. But Pakistan's government was not informed beforehand of the strike that took place on its sovereign territory. Neither was there any information on the others blown up in the vehicle by several US drones.

The US government has been using euphemisms to describe such actions as target killings, rather than assassinations, just like the words "enhanced interrogation" instead of "torture" are used regarding Guantanamo prison detainees held without due process.