OUTGOING US President Barack Obama defended his use of drone assassinations and proxy wars during his final national security speech on Tuesday night.

Addressing troops at Florida’s MacDill Air Force Base, home to the US Special Operations Command, Mr Obama boasted he was the first US president to “serve two full terms during a time of war” — after being elected on the promise of peace.

He heralded his record of using drones rather than troops on the ground which he claimed saved civilian lives.

However the Bureau of Investigative Journalism says US drone attacks in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia have killed more than 800 civilians, far more than Mr Obama’s selective admission in June of up to 116.

The president also used the opportunity to target his successor Donald Trump who has previously condoned the use of torture.

“We prohibited torture,” he said. “And at no time has anybody who has worked with me told me that doing so has cost us good intelligence.”

Mr Obama went on to slam Congress for refusing to allow the closure of Guantanamo Bay — a pledge the president was not able to see through in his eight years in office.

However despite promising to wind down conflicts ahead of his election, the US is currently launching air strikes in Syria, Somalia, Libya and Yemen and has troops deployed in Jordan, Djibouti, Turkey, Egypt and Cameroon.