Status
Available
Publication
New York : Simon & Schuster, [2016]
Description
The "author and his colleagues at the investigative website, The Intercept, expose stunning new details about America's secret assassination policy."--NoveList. When the US government discusses drone strikes publicly, it offers assurances that such operations are a more precise alternative to troops on the ground, but the implicit message from the administration has been trust, but don't verify. The online magazine The Intercept obtained a cache of secret slides that provide a window into the inner workings of the US military's kill/capture operations in Afghanistan, Yemen, and Somalia, and show assassination to be central to US counterterrorism policy. This campaign, carried out by two presidents through four presidential terms, has been deliberately obscured from the public-- until now.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member DavidWineberg
In 2001 there were 16 names on the Known or Suspected Terrorist list. In 2013 there were 469 thousand and there are now north of 680,000. These are people singled out for extra security at airports, like Senator Ted Kennedy who was prevented from boarding several flights, and a cub scout named
The book is really well constructed. Its prologue is a view from above by Edward Snowden, who compares the treatment he received with the slap on the wrists to General Petraeus for basically the same thing, the first foretaste of the tsunami of hypocrisy to come. The first stories butter us up with the way civilians are targeted by agencies like TSA, and all the astounding kinds of data they collect on over a million people, most of whom are specifically not even suspected of belonging to terrorist organizations. Then we get into drone killing. In story after story, the methods, the operations and the effects on individuals, families and whole countries comes into stark relief.
Extrajudicial killing is a routine daily practice, with hundreds of civilians killed for every suspect targeted. This includes children, pregnant women and whole families. Weddings have been particularly fruitful. American drones have deployed all over Africa and the Arab crescent, and now all kinds of other countries from France to China want to replicate the glorious freedom to kill at will with drones. Since the US has proven the way to get to pretty much anyone is to track them through their telephone SIM card, everyone on the planet is fair game, and there is absolutely no need to be sure of the target. One suspect’s mother was bombed to death because her son lent her his phone.
This is an updated collection of stories from The Intercept, an investigative journalism website that clings to ideals like press freedom against the monolith of the US government, which is totally against having to admit any of what it is doing. The book is also beautifully laid out, with dramatic red accents at the beginning and end of every story, and lots of photos and graphics integrated right where they are discussed. The stories are succinct, though they could have been edited to remove duplication.
The epilogue devotes itself to showing Barack Obama as a complete hypocrite, outdoing George W Bush in ignoring the constitution and human rights, using his own words, before (“Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency”) and after being elected (“Courts have no role reviewing the president’s war on terror killings”). It is garden variety hypocrisy; once in power, they all revert to type, removing rights, invading privacy and limiting freedoms. In the “war on terror” suspects of any kind have no rights whatsoever. Everyone is a potential suspect, and you have no choice but to play.
David Wineberg
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Mikey Hicks, who got the treatment the first time when he was just two. It also includes the president of Bolivia and the Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament. Membership in a terrorist organization is not required. Once on the list, directives request every conceivable scrap of information, even biographical data on co-travelers. Mere death is not an acceptable reason for removal from the list, and neither is acquittal by a jury. To get off a list, all 19 American security agencies have to agree, and the subject will not be informed. And that’s just one list. So begins The Assassination Complex.The book is really well constructed. Its prologue is a view from above by Edward Snowden, who compares the treatment he received with the slap on the wrists to General Petraeus for basically the same thing, the first foretaste of the tsunami of hypocrisy to come. The first stories butter us up with the way civilians are targeted by agencies like TSA, and all the astounding kinds of data they collect on over a million people, most of whom are specifically not even suspected of belonging to terrorist organizations. Then we get into drone killing. In story after story, the methods, the operations and the effects on individuals, families and whole countries comes into stark relief.
Extrajudicial killing is a routine daily practice, with hundreds of civilians killed for every suspect targeted. This includes children, pregnant women and whole families. Weddings have been particularly fruitful. American drones have deployed all over Africa and the Arab crescent, and now all kinds of other countries from France to China want to replicate the glorious freedom to kill at will with drones. Since the US has proven the way to get to pretty much anyone is to track them through their telephone SIM card, everyone on the planet is fair game, and there is absolutely no need to be sure of the target. One suspect’s mother was bombed to death because her son lent her his phone.
This is an updated collection of stories from The Intercept, an investigative journalism website that clings to ideals like press freedom against the monolith of the US government, which is totally against having to admit any of what it is doing. The book is also beautifully laid out, with dramatic red accents at the beginning and end of every story, and lots of photos and graphics integrated right where they are discussed. The stories are succinct, though they could have been edited to remove duplication.
The epilogue devotes itself to showing Barack Obama as a complete hypocrite, outdoing George W Bush in ignoring the constitution and human rights, using his own words, before (“Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency”) and after being elected (“Courts have no role reviewing the president’s war on terror killings”). It is garden variety hypocrisy; once in power, they all revert to type, removing rights, invading privacy and limiting freedoms. In the “war on terror” suspects of any kind have no rights whatsoever. Everyone is a potential suspect, and you have no choice but to play.
David Wineberg
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LibraryThing member paulkeller
read like a rather careless collection of stories that had previously published on the intercept. at times repetitive. also the same events are repeatedly represented differently in different sections of the book (sloppy editing!). the whole book is saved by the afterword by Glen Greenwald.
LibraryThing member plappen
Based on leaked documents, this book gives an inside look at America's military drone program.
Publicly, drone strikes are used only on those who are deemed an imminent threat to America, including American citizens living abroad. The intelligence community is as sure as they can be that they know
In countries like Somalia and Yemen, America has very few people on the ground who can confirm Terrorist X's location at any given time. Therefore, America relies on tracking their cellphones. Some drones carry what is, in effect, a fake cellphone tower. When Terrorist X's cellphone makes a call, it is forced to connect to that fake tower. The location is pinpointed. The possibility that the cellphone is in the possession of Terrorist X's wife or cousin, or that the SIM card was taken out and given to an associate, is not considered. Civilians who are killed in a drone strike are usually called "militants."
The book talks about America's no-fly lists (there is more than one list). How a person gets on, and off, the list is highly classified. Evidently giving Americans a way to get off the list would hamper the War on Terror. Ramstein Air Base in Germany is a vital relay point between drones flying around Southwest Asia, and their pilots back in America. Officially, this is in violation of German law, but the German Government intentionally does not ask America about it. Ultimately, despite the occasional high profile, and extrajudicial, killing, the drone program has not had much effect on Al-Qaeda or the Taliban.
This book deserves six stars. It is fascinating, eye-opening, upsetting and very highly recommended for all Americans.
Publicly, drone strikes are used only on those who are deemed an imminent threat to America, including American citizens living abroad. The intelligence community is as sure as they can be that they know
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Terrorist X's exact location and that the possibility of civilian casualties is reduced as much as possible. That's not the reality.In countries like Somalia and Yemen, America has very few people on the ground who can confirm Terrorist X's location at any given time. Therefore, America relies on tracking their cellphones. Some drones carry what is, in effect, a fake cellphone tower. When Terrorist X's cellphone makes a call, it is forced to connect to that fake tower. The location is pinpointed. The possibility that the cellphone is in the possession of Terrorist X's wife or cousin, or that the SIM card was taken out and given to an associate, is not considered. Civilians who are killed in a drone strike are usually called "militants."
The book talks about America's no-fly lists (there is more than one list). How a person gets on, and off, the list is highly classified. Evidently giving Americans a way to get off the list would hamper the War on Terror. Ramstein Air Base in Germany is a vital relay point between drones flying around Southwest Asia, and their pilots back in America. Officially, this is in violation of German law, but the German Government intentionally does not ask America about it. Ultimately, despite the occasional high profile, and extrajudicial, killing, the drone program has not had much effect on Al-Qaeda or the Taliban.
This book deserves six stars. It is fascinating, eye-opening, upsetting and very highly recommended for all Americans.
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LibraryThing member nicdevera
An anthology of articles from The Intercept, so there's a lot of repetition.
LibraryThing member TobinElliott
An important and terrifying book. Everytime the reader thinks their moral outrage can't get any more inflamed, another section is read.
Is it the fact that killing enemy targets eliminates any ability to gather useful intelligence? Dropping a bomb on someone remotely means you can't recover their
Is it the fact that killing enemy targets in ridiculously imprecise? Something like 90% of the kills are the poor bastards who happen to be around that target at that time. It's like swatting a fly by dropping a car on it.
Is it the fact that the manner of identifying the enemy targets is even more imprecise than the kills? Yeah, we're pretty sure this is the dude. No, we can't see him. No, we can't 100% confirm. But we're pretty sure it's his cell phone, and we only have 60 days to turn him into a greasespot, and we're on day 58, so frag that fucker. We'll sort it out later.
Or, is it the fact that much of the tech is now being used in the US to dig illegally into America's citizens. Think your phone is safe? Yeah, well, to quote an old TV line, "what colour is the sky in your world?"
Reading this, you realize that when the World Trade Center towers fell two decades ago, we lost a lot more than the lives and innocence. We lost our right to privacy. Everyone is guilty now, until proven innocent.
Or, until they're located by their SIM card and bombed out of existence.
Is it the fact that killing enemy targets eliminates any ability to gather useful intelligence? Dropping a bomb on someone remotely means you can't recover their
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cell phone, or any papers, or even their damn wallet.Is it the fact that killing enemy targets in ridiculously imprecise? Something like 90% of the kills are the poor bastards who happen to be around that target at that time. It's like swatting a fly by dropping a car on it.
Is it the fact that the manner of identifying the enemy targets is even more imprecise than the kills? Yeah, we're pretty sure this is the dude. No, we can't see him. No, we can't 100% confirm. But we're pretty sure it's his cell phone, and we only have 60 days to turn him into a greasespot, and we're on day 58, so frag that fucker. We'll sort it out later.
Or, is it the fact that much of the tech is now being used in the US to dig illegally into America's citizens. Think your phone is safe? Yeah, well, to quote an old TV line, "what colour is the sky in your world?"
Reading this, you realize that when the World Trade Center towers fell two decades ago, we lost a lot more than the lives and innocence. We lost our right to privacy. Everyone is guilty now, until proven innocent.
Or, until they're located by their SIM card and bombed out of existence.
Show Less