bvargo's review against another edition
4.0
While the cost of US soldier's lives is a consideration, the drone program makes it such that the cost of others' lives is made immaterial when drones kill the wrong targets 90% of the time with so little effort. I would have liked to see more exploration into how the US is setting the rules of war for the use of drones in the 21st century but it was not in the book.
regferk's review against another edition
5.0
I'm not an Obama hater, in fact, I think that history will show him to be one of the best presidents we've ever had. His administration has a dark side, however. Drones and, let's call it what it is, targeted assassinations, fall on that dark side. This book is a must read for every American that still believes in Democracy and the U.S. Constitution and the idea of human rights.
onceandfuturelaura's review against another edition
4.0
Horrifying and heartbreaking. I want to believe we're better than the evidence. And yet . . .
books17's review against another edition
4.0
2020 is off to a good start!
This was very interesting. A lot of neat, and very disturbing, information about the United States' drone warfare, albeit now over 5 years out of date. Well written, and a lot of nice graphics and graphs for those of us who enjoy seeing things laid out visually.
In particular, the afterword by Glen Greenwald of Snowden fame is interesting, comparing the drone/remote killing policies of the Bush and Obama administrations which, considering how heavily Obama campaigned against indiscriminate remote killings during his election drive, were incredibly similar. I'm very interested to do some of my own research and see how things have gone since then.
The book is basically a collection of articles from The Intercept, so a lot of information is repeated several times which is a little annoying, and one of the major issues with drone warfare - the emotional health of their operators - isn't explored at all, which I found disappointing as that is something that interests me greatly.
Nevertheless, a good book - certainly worth the read.
This was very interesting. A lot of neat, and very disturbing, information about the United States' drone warfare, albeit now over 5 years out of date. Well written, and a lot of nice graphics and graphs for those of us who enjoy seeing things laid out visually.
In particular, the afterword by Glen Greenwald of Snowden fame is interesting, comparing the drone/remote killing policies of the Bush and Obama administrations which, considering how heavily Obama campaigned against indiscriminate remote killings during his election drive, were incredibly similar. I'm very interested to do some of my own research and see how things have gone since then.
The book is basically a collection of articles from The Intercept, so a lot of information is repeated several times which is a little annoying, and one of the major issues with drone warfare - the emotional health of their operators - isn't explored at all, which I found disappointing as that is something that interests me greatly.
Nevertheless, a good book - certainly worth the read.
andrewfontenelle's review against another edition
5.0
The reliance on the use of drones has not only been presented as an effective alternative to "boots on the ground" but has become a major part of US counter-terrorism policy. Yet its indiscriminate use leading to many innocent bystanders being killed, its implementation which appears to be based on questionable intelligence as well as its application as a means of assassination should be raising many questions!
"The Assassination Complex" looks at how drone warfare and related technologies, used by the US Government in the 21st Century is rather than being an effective tool, is causing more problems than it solves.
"The Assassination Complex" looks at how drone warfare and related technologies, used by the US Government in the 21st Century is rather than being an effective tool, is causing more problems than it solves.
stevenk's review against another edition
3.0
This book was a compilation of reports from the online magazine The Intercept regarding the US government's drone strike programs and other methods of killing or capturing treats to the US in Afghanistan, Yemen, and Somalia. Utilizing classified documents and confidential sources these authors looked into different aspects of the counter terrorism programs. The turf wars between the military and CIA and the perception of the programs versus the reality was interesting, for example while President Obama has lowered the standards for identifying a valid target, greatly ramped up the strikes and resulting deaths of unintended targets, the support of these programs by democrats has increased from the time of President Bush, when the standards were higher and the resulting strikes much fewer. Reading this book felt a little disjointed but I think that was only a result of the different reports/stories/authors being put together in one cover as a single book. I received a free ARC of this book through Goodreads First Reads Giveaways.
skitch41's review against another edition
5.0
(Full Disclosure: I received an advance copy of this book for free through a Goodreads Giveaway contest. The views expressed are my own and do not reflect that of the author, the publisher, or Goodreads)
Every U.S. President, even the great ones, have a black mark on their record that seems to leave a taint in people's minds. Washington: his inability to resolve the Native American conflicts; Jefferson: the Trade Embargo; Lincoln: ignoring habeas corpus; Theodore Roosevelt: his dishonorable discharging of African-American soldiers over crimes they didn't commit; and Franklin Roosevelt: internment of Japanese-Americans. For Barack Obama, his greatest black mark will be his drone campaign and not just for the untold number of civilian casualties it caused but for the fact that it stands against everything he spoke out against about the War on Terror when he first ran for president. This book, written using sources and documents obtained from military and intelligence units, gives us the clearest picture of how the drone warfare campaign was being conducted during Obama's presidency. The number of potential civilian deaths is shocking, especially when the documents show that not only were few terrorists and insurgents actually killed compared to the number of civilians, but that the military and intelligence agencies used methods of metadata that are prone to all kinds of human errors. Thus, it is possible that the drone strikes never actually hit their targets. It is outrageous and scandalous! What's worse, one of the chapters of this book details how the military is selling the surveillance data it has used in the drone campaign to police forces. It's less obvious than selling police forces an armored personnel vehicle, but no less insidious and disturbing from a constitutional point of view. What could be even worse than that? Since this book was published last year, it is unlikely that any of the policies that have made the drone campaign possible have probably not been altered much. Now these drones have fallen into the hands of a new president who has said that he would "bomb the hell out of them [terrorists]" and even suggested targeting terrorists' families. With that in mind, think of how many more innocent people will suffer from the unseen threat of drones. Aside from the military jargon at the beginning, which may confuse some people, this book was not just a great read, it was a necessary read. I highly recommend this book to all Americans.
Every U.S. President, even the great ones, have a black mark on their record that seems to leave a taint in people's minds. Washington: his inability to resolve the Native American conflicts; Jefferson: the Trade Embargo; Lincoln: ignoring habeas corpus; Theodore Roosevelt: his dishonorable discharging of African-American soldiers over crimes they didn't commit; and Franklin Roosevelt: internment of Japanese-Americans. For Barack Obama, his greatest black mark will be his drone campaign and not just for the untold number of civilian casualties it caused but for the fact that it stands against everything he spoke out against about the War on Terror when he first ran for president. This book, written using sources and documents obtained from military and intelligence units, gives us the clearest picture of how the drone warfare campaign was being conducted during Obama's presidency. The number of potential civilian deaths is shocking, especially when the documents show that not only were few terrorists and insurgents actually killed compared to the number of civilians, but that the military and intelligence agencies used methods of metadata that are prone to all kinds of human errors. Thus, it is possible that the drone strikes never actually hit their targets. It is outrageous and scandalous! What's worse, one of the chapters of this book details how the military is selling the surveillance data it has used in the drone campaign to police forces. It's less obvious than selling police forces an armored personnel vehicle, but no less insidious and disturbing from a constitutional point of view. What could be even worse than that? Since this book was published last year, it is unlikely that any of the policies that have made the drone campaign possible have probably not been altered much. Now these drones have fallen into the hands of a new president who has said that he would "bomb the hell out of them [terrorists]" and even suggested targeting terrorists' families. With that in mind, think of how many more innocent people will suffer from the unseen threat of drones. Aside from the military jargon at the beginning, which may confuse some people, this book was not just a great read, it was a necessary read. I highly recommend this book to all Americans.