Obamas Kill List and New Phase of American Foreign Policy

On Sundays Face the Nation, Bob Schieffer interviewed Newsweeks Daniel Klaidman, author of Kill or Capture: The War on Terror and the Soul of the Obama Presidency, and New York Times reporter David Sanger, author of "Confront and Conceal: Obama's Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power. Schieffer discussed with them Obamas increasing use of drones and Special Operations Forces to carry out targeted killings of terrorist on CIAs hit list, and his use of cyberwarfare to hinder Irans nuclear development efforts. Klaidman explained that the use of drones and Special Operations were a way to engage terrorist without involving the United States in another war like Afghanistan or Iraq. He explains how the president became so personally involved in the CIAs Kill List. In a book excerpt for Newsweek, Klaidman writes that Obamas decision to be hands-on was a result of a failed CIA drone missile strike in January 2009. The targets were to be high-level al Qaeda and Taliban commanders in Pakistan. But the strike instead killed a tribal elder and four members of his family, including two of his children. As a result early in his presidency, President Obama, vice chairman of the Joint Chief James Hoss Cartwright, and counterterrorism aide John Brennan came together as a team for the purpose of assassinating terrorist. Klaidman thinks that to some extent Obamas personal involvement in the killings was a result of his need to take moral responsibility. He said that Obama also was concerned the United States would be sucked into wars in places like Yemen and Somalia. However, by the time Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in December 2009, he had authorized more drone strikes than George W. Bush had approved during his entire presidency, Sanger told Schieffer that Obama ordered cyberattacks against Irans nuclear enrichment facilities. It turned out, in 2010, as a result of a worldwide malicious computer infection, it was discovered that the weapon used in that cyberattack was a computer worm named Stuxnet. A worm that was jointly developed by the United States and Israel as part of an operation called Olympic Games. Klaidman and Sanger clearly present what is a new phase in American foreign policy. Obamas

tactics have been successful. Drones have taken out many high-profiled terrorist. Special Operations were responsible for the assassination of Osama bin Laden. And on Monday morning, a drone strike killed Abu Yahya al-Libi, one of al Qaeda's most powerful figures, according to Reuters. Its not what many of us expected from our peace prize president, but republicans certainly cannot continue to claim our president is week on foreign policy, a view republicans have expressed as a weak and uncertain America under Obamas leadership. So whether its Obama or Romney in the White House, dont expect this new phase in American foreign policy to end very soon.