Objective Troy: A Terrorist, a President, and the Rise of the Drone

Anwar al-Awlaki became the first American to be officially targeted for death after he called for attacks against America, praised the November 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, TX, and recruited the underwear bomber who tried to bring down an airliner on Christmas Day 2009. A U.S. drone strike killed him in Yemen on September 30, 2011, after an extensive, expensive manhunt. Using these events as the book's framework, Shane, a national security reporter for the New York Times, examines how al-Awlaki turned to jihad after a moderate upbringing; what the role of modern technology is in warfare, communications, and politics; and how Barack Obama became the drone warfare president. Further, the author discusses the legal controversy around this deadly precedent, and the vastly different perceptions of how terrorism should be dealt with and publicly described. This is another example of how divisive domestic politics can affect international policies.