To: President Donald Trump

The World is NOT a Battlefield: End Signature Strikes Now

Signature strikes have exponentially multiplied under this administration’s watch, costing us countless civilian casualties, including American lives, because they target suspicious-looking groups of people without knowing their specific identities. These strikes have provoked anti-American unrest in countries like Pakistan due to the death toll of innocent people.

First authorized by President Bush in 2008, these “signature” strikes make up the overwhelming majority of drone attacks carried out by the United States.

President Obama: reject the "global war" legal theory today, once and for all. Halt signature strikes and put an end to the unlawful and immoral killings of innocent civilians.

Why is this important?

As a former Marine company commander and U.S. State Department official, I have witnessed America’s “War on Terror” from the frontlines. But there's another war going on: a global war that's largely been hidden from our view. It runs rampant with ever-growing kill lists, drone strikes and deadly night raids. Devoid of effective external review, oversight or accountability, it is single handedly executed by the President of the United States. As a result, signature strikes are killing masses of innocent people in the American public’s name.

Once a liberal law professor who campaigned against the Iraq war and torture, President Obama personally oversees a rapidly expanding 'Kill List;’ multiplying signature drone strikes in undeclared war zones around the world, from Yemen to Pakistan; and a covert war in Somalia.

These signature strikes cannot distinguish between a legitimate terrorist and the many innocent villager bystanders being wiped out – mothers, children, or as we found out last week, American Citizens. That’s why I speak out about it in my friend and colleague, Jeremy Scahill’s, upcoming film, Dirty Wars, in theatres June 7, 2013.