NEW YORK, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- Dozens of U.S. Congress members Thursday sent a letter to U.S. President Joe Biden asking for the review and overhaul of existing counterterrorism policy, which killed innocent civilians and eroded the rule of law and the United States' image abroad.
"Without systematic reforms centered on human rights and international law, the status quo will continue to undermine counterterrorism objectives, produce significant human and strategic costs and erode the rule of law and the United States' image abroad," said the letter signed by 11 senators and 39 members of the House of Representatives.
As many as 48,000 civilians in seven countries have been killed by the U.S. strikes over the past two decades and at least 14,000 U.S. airstrikes have been conducted by unmanned aircraft since 2002 killing as many as 2,200 civilians, said the letter citing third-party sources.
The actual numbers are likely to be significantly higher given the difficulty of comprehensive reporting and the United States' consistent underreporting of these numbers and reported refusal to investigate death report, said the letter.
"In far too many cases, rather than achieving the policy goal of eliminating hostile combatants to preserve U.S. national security, lethal U.S. strikes have instead killed thousands of civilians, including children," the legislators said in the letter.
The Biden administration initiated the process to recalibrate U.S. policies on drone strikes but has not made an announcement of decision.
"We cannot ignore the terrible consequences of U.S. drone strikes over several administrations," said Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts in a statement.
"When U.S. strikes kill civilians abroad, it's both a moral failure and national security liability," said a report by New York Times quoting Senator Christopher S. Murphy of Connecticut.
When there is little policy change or accountability for repeated mistakes this grave and this costly, it sends a message throughout the U.S. armed forces and the entire U.S. government that civilian deaths -- including deaths where there was no military target -- are the inevitable consequence of modern conflict, rather than avoidable and damaging failures of policy, the letter added.
Both Warren and Murphy signed the letter and they led the efforts to push for overhaul of counterterrorism policy. ■