
- 304 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About this book
"Divulge[s] the details of top-level deliberationsâdetails that were almost certainly known only to the administration's inner circle" ( The Wall Street Journal ). When he was elected in 2008, Barack Obama had vowed to close GuantĂĄnamo, put an end to coercive interrogation and military tribunals, and restore American principles of justice. Yet by the end of his first term he had backtracked on each of these promises, ramping up the secret war of drone strikes and covert operations. Behind the scenes, wrenching debates between hawks and dovesâthose who would kill versus those who would captureârepeatedly tested the very core of the president's identity, leading many to wonder whether he was at heart an idealist or a ruthless pragmatist. Digging deep into this period of recent history, investigative reporter Daniel Klaidman spoke to dozens of sources to piece together a riveting Washington story packed with revelations. As the president's inner circle debated secret programs, new legal frontiers, and the disjuncture between principles and down-and-dirty politics, Obama vacillated, sometimes lashed out, and spoke in lofty tones while approving a mounting toll of assassinations and kinetic-war operations. Klaidman's fly-on-the-wall reporting reveals who had his ear, how key national security decisions are really made, and whether or not President Obama lived up to the promise of candidate Obama. "Fascinating... Lays bare the human dimension of the wrenching national security decisions that have to be made." âTina Brown, NPR "An important book." âSteve Coll, The New Yorker
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Information
Table of contents
- Title Page
- Table of Contents
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Cast of Characters
- A Note on Sources
- Prologue
- 1. The Promise
- 2. Where the Fuck is bin Laden?
- 3. Torture Debates and Murder Boards
- 4. Escape From Gitmo
- 5. Kill or Capture
- 6. How Not to Try a Terrorist
- 7. The Christmas Gift
- 8. From Warfare to Lawfare
- 9. âThe President is Anguishedâ
- 10. Textbook
- Epilogue
- Postscript
- Acknowledgments
- Index
- About the Author