Greg Bales

Secret ‘Kill List’ Tests Obama’s Principles

In interviews with The New York Times, three dozen of [Obama’s] current and former advisers described Mr. Obama’s evolution since taking on the role, without precedent in presidential history, of personally overseeing the shadow war with Al Qaeda.

They describe a paradoxical leader who shunned the legislative deal-making required to close the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, but approves lethal action without hand-wringing. While he was adamant about narrowing the fight and improving relations with the Muslim world, he has followed the metastasizing enemy into new and dangerous lands. When he applies his lawyering skills to counterterrorism, it is usually to enable, not constrain, his ferocious campaign against Al Qaeda — even when it comes to killing an American cleric in Yemen, a decision that Mr. Obama told colleagues was “an easy one.”

The short of it: Obama’s policy of drone strikes against suspected al Qaeda operatives is wide-ranging in the world, encompassing Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia among states the United States is not at war in, and Afghanistan among states it is. It is built upon assumptions about casualties that probably misstate the number of civilians who are killed. It is also a personal project of the president, who sees it as his moral duty to authorize every strike.

“Secret ‘Kill List’ Tests Obama’s Principles” by Jo Becker & Scott Shane for The New York Times