Killing Machine: The American Presidency In The Age Of Drone Warfare

With Obama's election to the presidency in 2008, many believed the United States had entered a new era. Obama came into office with high expectations that he would end the war in Iraq and initiate a new foreign policy that would reestablish American values and the United States' leadership role in the world.

In this assessment, historian Lloyd C. Gardner argues that, despite cosmetic changes, Obama has built on the expanding power base of presidential power that reaches back across decades and multiple administrations.

The new president ended the “enhanced interrogation” policy of the Bush administration but did not abandon the concept of preemption. Obama withdrew from Iraq but institutionalized drone warfare—including the White House's central role in selecting targets. What has come into view is the new face of American presidential high-tech, secretive, global, and lethal.

Killing Machine narrates the drawdown in Iraq, the counterinsurgency warfare in Afghanistan, the rise of drone use, and targeted assassinations from al-Awlaki to Bin Laden—drawing from the words of key players and their critics. With historical perspective, Gardner's book is a key resource for understanding the Obama administration and the American presidency.